WILLIAMS 
BROTHERS 


TWICE  OUTLAWED 


A   PERSONAL    HISTORY   OF 

ED  AND  LOIN  MAXWELL 

ALIAS  THE 

WILLIAMS  BROTHERS 


IX)  WHICH  IS  ADDED  A  DETAILED  AND  GRAPHIC  ACCOUNT 
OF  THE 

ARREST    AND    LYNCHING 

OF  EDWARD  MAXWELL 
AT  DURAND.  WISCONSIN.  NOVEMBER  19.  1881. 


BY 
ADRIAN    PERCY 


CHICAGO 
W.  B.  CONKEY  COMPANY 


CONTENTS. 

OHAPTKB.  PAGE. 

I.  THE  MAXWELLS  OF  ILLINOIS 7 

II.  BROTHER  FOLLOWS  BROTHER 17 

III.  A  FULL  HAND  AT  OUTLAWRY 26 

IV.  FAST  AND  LOOSE 36 

V.  RUN  INTO  JOLIET 44 

VI.  REFORMATION 54 

VII.  LOVE'S  YOUNG  DREAM 61 

VIII.  MARRIED  AND  DOING  WKLL 66 

IX.  AN  EVIL  GENIUS  REAPPEARS 71 

X.  WAYS  OF  WICKEDNESS 76 

.  XL  OUTLAWED  ONCE  MORE 84 

XII.  DESOLATION  AND  DESPAIR 92 

XIII.  THE  GREAT  CRIME 100 

XIV.  THE  CALAMITY  OF  TWO  COMMUNITIES.  . .   112 
XV.  A  BIT  OF  BIOGRAPHY 117 

XVI.  THE  BIG  WOODS 124 

XVII.  IN  HOT  PURSUIT 130 

XVIII.  THE  LUDINGTON  GUARD 144 

XIX.  EXPERIENCES  OF  SERVICE 156 

XX.  THE  GREAT  FRAUD 167 

XXI.  THE  PURSUIT  ABANDONED 17? 


LIFE  OF  WILLIAMS  BROTHERS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

< 

THE  MAXWELLS  IN  ILLINOIS. 

SOUTHERN  REFUGEES  —  PEACE  AND  PLENTY  —  THE 

THREE  BOYS  —  ED'S  CRIMINAL  CAREER —  LON  AS 

A  CLERK  —  ED  SELECTS  A  NEW  SUIT  —  A  HOT 

CHASE  ON  A  COLD  TRAIL THE  ROBBER'S 

ROOST  —  A  FAMILY'S   SHAME. 

Hardly  had  the  first  report  of  the  firing  on  Sumpter  re- 
verberated throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  a  sore 
stricken  land  before  the  flight  of  Union  refugees  from  the 
South  commenced  in  serious  earnest.  Among  the  number 
of  those  who  either  loved  the  stars  and  stripes  too  well,  or 
feared  too  much  the  dangers  of  a  civil  conflict  calculated  to 
call  for  a  general  conscription,  for  them  to  remain  longer 
than  absolutely  necessary  below  the  cotton  belt  of  a  divided 
country,  were  the  Maxwell  family,  with  whom  this  history 
proposes  to  deal  impartially.  The  Maxwells,  at  the  time  a 


8  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

family  of  five,  consisting  of  father,  mother  and  three  male 
children,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  an  unweaned  babe 
were  said  to  have  come  from  Arkansas,  and  settled  in  Ful- 
ton county,  Illinois,  during  the  summer  of  1861. 

Captain  Maxwell,  as  he  came  somehow  to  be  called — 
perhaps  from  his  excellent  command  of  the  discretionary 
part  of  valor — rented  a  small  farm  in  Fulton  county,  and 
remained  throughout  the  war  uninterrupted  in  the  tranquil 
possession  of  peace  and  plenty.  The  boys  grew  up  as  finely 
as  fond  parents  could  desire,  though  the  incipient  inclinations 
of  the  elder  two  were  apparently  averse  to  following  the 
plow  for  their  own  future,  as  yet  bright  as  the  blue  of  a 
cloudless  sky,  with  no  suspicion  of  the  darkness  and  despair 
to  follow  in  the  wake  of  a  wrathful  storm  cloud  rising  on 
the  far  horizon,  and  destined  years  on  to  enshroud  and  final- 
ly entomb  their  lives,  and  that  fairer,  purer  life  of  another 
— she,  whose  romantic  history  and  sad  fate  may  be  said  to 
adorn  this  tale  and  to  point  its  moral.  The  Maxwell  family 
continued  to  reside  on  the  Fulton  county  farm  until  1868. 
Edward,  the  eldest  son,  was  then  about  eighteen  years  old; 
Alonzo,  the  second  and  favorite  child,  being  in  his  twelfth 
year,  and  Charley,  the  youngest,  a  lad  of  seven. 

For  several  years  previous  to  this  date,  Edward's  dispos- 
ition had  been  frequently  shown  to  be  in  a  state  of  unhealthy 
development.  His  growing  assumption  of  the  manners  of 
an  overbearing  and  unscrupulous  leader,  accustomed  to  be 
blindly  obeyed  without  questioning,  plainly  betokened  that 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  9 

the  time  was  not  far  distant  when  he  would  deliberately  re- 
sort to  the  methods  by  which  men  of  that  class  seemingly 
succeed  but  too  well,  ere  the  race  run  by  each  with  the  law 
is  brought  to  an  end.  Edward  would  try  to  bully  his 
brothers  when  he  could  not  make  them  do  his  bidding  by 
means  of  a  fairer  form  of  persuasion.  Alonzo,  or  Lon,  as 
he  continued  to  be  called  in  after  years  the  same  as  in  his 
boyhood  days,  was  bright  and  brave  from  his  birth,  frank- 
spoken  and  fi  ee-hearted.  Fond  of  fun,  he  was  led  for  the 
sake  of  a  frolic  into  many  a  piece  of  mischief  planned  or 
suggested  by  Edward's  fertile  brain.  Charley  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly mild  mannered  child,  given  more  to  assisting  his 
parents  in  work  about  the  house  and  farm  and  less  to  "  hav- 
ing a  good  time,"  according  to  a  popular  notion  among 
American  youth,  than  his  brothers  could  either  approve  or 
appreciate. 

It  was  a  natural  consequence,  as  the  boys  progressed  to- 
ward manhood,  that  Ed.  and  Lon  were  thrown  much 
together,  and  generally  alone,  the  greater  part  of  the  time, 
while  Charley  remained  the  home  boy.  As  is  generally  the 
case,  however,  the  affections  of  Captain  and  Mrs.  Maxwell 
were  not  bestowed  as  lavishly  upon  the  child  whose  deport- 
ment and  demeanor  caused  them  the  least  trouble,  as  upon 
his  dearer  head,  whose  intelligence  was  the  keener  and  ap- 
pearance indicative  of  a  higher  ambition  and  greater  prom- 
ise, even  while  his  footsteps  seemed  to  wander  the  least  bit 
astray. 


io  Life  cf  Williams  Brothers. 

Lon  was  naturally  in  his  youth  the  pride  and  joy  of  his 
parents.  Partaking  of  none  of  his  older  brother's  offensive 
braggadocio,  which  at  times  gave  way  to  a  strange  taciturn- 
ity, afterwards  becoming  more  marked  in  Edward's  inter- 
course with  strangers,  and  with  so  much  more  vim  and  dash 
about  him,  on  the  other  hand,  than  his  younger  brother 
possessed,  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  Lon  should  have 
been  regarded  as  he  was,  the  fairest  flower  of  the  family. 
In  the  fall  of  1868,  Captain  Maxwell  gave  up  an  extended 
lease  of  his  farm  in  Fulton  county,  and  moved  to  Woodford 
county,  Illinois,  near  the  village  of  Washburn. 

It  was  here  that  Edward  was  first  detected  in  crime.  His 
debut  in  this  direction  was  made  in  the  character  of  a  sneak- 
thief.  He  became  quite  noted  among  a  certain  class  in  the 
community  presumably  prone  to  the  unlawful  taking  by  one 
of  another's  small  valuables,  for  the  dexterity  with  which  he 
could  pick  up  and  walk  off  with  any  little  trifle  belonging- 
to  some  one  else  that  he  happened  to  fancy.  Farmer  Max 
well  seemed  to  have  grown  dissatisfied  on  leaving  Fulton 
county,  for  he  stayed  but  a  twelvemonth  in  Woodford  coun- 
ty, going  next  to  McLean  county,  where  he  managed  to 
pass  another  year  or  two,  at  Lexington.  His  next  removal 
was  to  Colchester,  McDonough  county,  where  the  family 
remained  until  Ed.'s  criminal  propensities  had  developed  to 
a  degree  that  led  to  the  destruction  of  domestic  ties  and  a 
separation  of  the  different  members  of  a  once  happy  house- 
hold. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  11 

During  the  few  years  which  elapsed  between  the  date  of 
the  removal  from  Fulton  county  and  the  family  break-up  in 
McDonough  county,  Ed.  Maxwell  followed  nothing  in  par- 
ticular for  a  living,  and  daily  became  fonder  of  the  evil  asso- 
ciations that  fast  were  dragging  him  onward  and  downward 
He  did  not  appear  to  be  so  fond  of  dissipation  simply,  and 
the  mere  society  of  disreputable  companions  of  both  sexes. 
What  he  seemed  to  crave  was  the  unrestrained  indulgence  of 
a  growing  appetite  for  the  theft  of  things  he  desired  to  ap- 
propriate for  his  own  use,  profit  or  sport.  Lon,  meanwhile, 
was  encouraged  to  enter  mercantile  life  at  the  stepping-stone 
of  the  humble  under  clerk,  whose  duties  include  the  dusting 
and  sweeping  of  the  store,  the  taking  down  in  the  morning 
and  putting  up  at  night  of  the  outside  shutters,  and  such  triv- 
ial but  necessary  things  as  always  remain  to  be  done  by  the 
person  lowest  in  authority  about  an  establishment  of  the 
kind.  In  this  capacity  Lon  served  several  terms  of  employ- 
ment in  different  stores  and  in  course  of  time  came  to  be 
promoted  to  the  post  of  salesman  proper.  Charlie  became 
more  the  right-hand  assistant  of  his  father  on  the  farm,  as 
he  increased  in  years  and  size,  and  gave  early  proof  of  his 
liking  and  aptitude  for  a  farmer's  life. 

The  petty  thievery  practiced  chiefly  as  a  pastime  by  Ed, 
while  at  Washburn,  grew  correspondingly  with  the  time 
bestowed  upon  it  as  an  art,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  had 
cultivated  in  his  own  way  the  acquaintance  of  the  good  peo- 
ple of  Colchester,  and  before  his  reputation  as  a  robber  was 


12  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

made  to  rest  upon  the  most  conclusive  and  to  his  depraved 
mind  the  most  illustrious  grounds.  When  his  true  charac- 
ter could  no  longer  be  concealed,  Ed.  repeatedly  approached 
his  brother  Lon,  and  in  every  imaginable  way  endeavored 
to  lead  him  into  temptation'  Every  inducement  and  hope 
of  illicit  reward  that  the  cunning  young  cracksman  could 
think  of  was  held  out  to  his  brother  who  was  made  to  see 
a  sin  so  dazzling  with  the  dash  and  excitement  of  successful 
rapine  as  to  appear  by  contrast  with  the  quiet,  humdrum  life 
of  a  country  store  clerk,  alluring  to  say  the  leas,t.  To  his 
credit  be  it  said,  Lon  for  a  long  time  firmly  resisted  his 
brother  in  attempts  against  his  own  peace  of  mind  and  re- 
fused to  have  anything  to  do  with  Ed.'s  various  schemes  for 
plunder. 

Occasionally  Ed.  made  a  pretense  of  working  on  the 
farm  of  some  simple  countryman,  whom  he  generally  man- 
aged to  get  the  best  of  before  leaving  his  service  and  roof. 
One  Saturday,  while  ostensibly  hired  out  to  a  farmer  near 
Colchester,  Ed.  rode  into  the  village  to  do  a  little  shopping, 
for  himself  principally,  at  the  stores.  Visiting  a  leading 
clothing  store  he  carefully  selected  a  suit  of  the  highest 
priced  clothing  kept  for  sale.  He  tried  on  the  coat  and  vest 
and  seemed  inclined  to  take  the  clerk's  word  about  the  pants 
being  just  his  size. 

**  So  you  think  this  suit  of  clothes  will  just  about  fit  me 
all  around,  do  you  ? "  Ed.  remarked. 

**  They  will,  for  a  fact,  and  you'll  be  getting  them  mighty 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  13 

cheap,  too,  I  tell  you,"  answered  the  clerk,  over-anxious  to 
conclude  the  sale. 

"  All  right,  young  man.  You're  about  right,  I  reckon. 
You  have  them  clothes  done  up  in  a  bundle  with  my  name 
on  and  I'll  call  and  get  it  when  I'm  better  fixed." 

The  bundle  was  done  up  and  laid  away  as  requested. 
True  to  his  word,  and  truer  to  his  own  meaning,  Ed.  did 
call  and  get  the  clothes,  and  got  them  "  cheaper  "  a  good 
deal  than  the  clerk  had  the  least  idea  of.  It  seems  he  waited 
until  dark  before  he  felt  well  enough  "  fixed  "  to  pay  the 
call,  and  then  visited  the  store  through  a  rear  window,  the 
sash  and  a  couple  of  panes  of  glass  readily  yielding  to  his 
expert  force.  The  robbery  was  discovered  on  Monday 
morning,  and  on  learning  that  Ed.  Maxwell  had  carried  a 
bundle  out  to  his  employer's  place  the  day  before,  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  store  started  for  the  farm  to  identify  his  prop- 
erty if  it  should  be  found,  leaving  an  officer  to  obtain  a  war- 
rant for  Ed.'s  arrest  and  follow  on  after  with  it. 

The  clothing  merchant  dismounted  in  sight  of  Ed.  who 
evidently  recognized  him,  and  in  a  moment  made  up  his 
mind  as  to  what  course  he  should  pursue.  As  the  merchant 
passed  him,  Ed.  carelessly  unbuttoned  his  coat,  displaying 
two  ugly-looking  revolvers  in  his  belt,  and  the  handle  of  a 
bowie  knife  which  protruded  from  the  bosom  of  his  shirt. 
The  clothier  passed  on,  in  mortal  fear  and  trembling  like  a 
leaf,  going  into  the  house  where  it  was  some  time  before  he 
could  collect  his  senses  sufficiently  to  proceed  to  an  exami- 


14  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 


nation  of  the  bundle  Ed.  had  brought  home,  which  proved 
to  be  of  course  that  containing  the  stolen  suit. 

In  the  meantime  Ed.  had  taken  and  fully  improved  the 
chance  afforded  him,  and  mounting  the  mare  on  which  the 
clothing  merchant  had  ridden  out  to  the  farm,  he  started  off 
at  a  lively  lope  in  an  opposite  direction  from  the  road  that 
led  to  town.  On  the  discovery  of  his  second  and  greater  ' 
loss,  the  poor  clothier  was  confonnded  completely.  Chase 
was  immediately  instituted,  and  within  an  hour  half  a  dozen 
men  were  in  hot  pursuit. 

Ed.  Maxwell  knew  a  thing  or  two,  though  that  seemed 
to  be  beyond  the  comprehension  of  his  pursuers,  for  before 
night  he  had  thrown  them  completely  off  the  track,  and 
doubling  up  on  that  track  returned  after  dark  to  the  farm- 
er's house.  Finding  everything  quiet  here,  with  only  the 
women  folks  at  home  and  they  abed,  Ed.  put  up  his  horse, 
and  made  his  way  to  the  room  occupied  by  the  comely 
young  wife  of  the  farmer,  where  he  had  evidently  been  be- 
fore in  the  absence  of  that  much-abused  head  of  the  house. 
He  remained  thus  sheltered  all  night,  while  the  poor  clothier 
and  poorer  farmer  with  the  officers'  posse  were  twenty 
miles  away  on  a  cold  trail.  At  daybreak,  Ed.  arose  and  ate 
a  warm  breakfast  hurriedly  prepared  for  him,  in  the  kitchen. 
He  concluded  to  leave  the  clothier's  saddle  mare  in  the 
stable,  and  made  bold  to  ask  the  loan  of  one  of  the  farmer's 
ponies,  which  was  readily  granted  him  by  the  unfaithful 
wife.  Ed.  then  rode  off  and  was  not  molested  further  on 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  15 

this  score.  He  returned  the  farmer's  pony  the  next  week, 
and  likely  had  an  interview  with  the  farmer's  worse-half  at 
the  same  time. 

Publicity  of  acts  like  this  gave  Ed.  such  a  hard  name 
that  every  member  of  Capt.  Maxell's  family  came  in  a  man- 
ner to  share  it.  So  great  was  the  grief  of  the  parents  at 
the  downward  course  their  eldest  son  persisted  in  taking, 
that  a  removal  from  the  state  of  Illinois  was  finally  deter- 
mined upon  as  a  possible  escape  from  much  of  the  bad  odor 
attaching  more  every  day  to  their  family  name  and  reputa- 
tion. The  old  folks  went  to  Kansas,  and  are  understood  to 
reside  there  still. 

There  were  some  reports  afloat  a  few  years  after  their  re- 
moval west,  about  the  appearance  at  the  time  of  a  "  long 
lost  daughter,"  who  had  been  left  in  the  south  during  the 
war  and  afterward,  until  coming  North  with  her  own  means 
obtained  as  a  sewing  girl,  in  which  capacity  she  had  made 
her  living  since  childhood.  It  was  said  this  daughter  joined 
her  parents  in  Kansas  and  became  to  them  the  blessing  they 
had  expected  to  find  in  one  of  their  boys.  It  is  extremely 
doubtful,  however,  if  Capt.  Maxwell's  wife  ever  had  a 
daughter,  certainly  and  nothing  definite  has  been  ascer- 
tained of  her  whereabouts  from  her  birth  up  to  the 
present  time.  Charles,  the  youngest  son,  preferring 
to  remain  in  Illinois,  hired  out  to  a  farmer  in  an- 
other part  of  the  state,  and  gradually  accumulated 
a  competence,  which  he  is  said  to  have  turned  to 


1 6  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

good  account  in   the  village  of where  he   now 

Jives. 

Lon  Maxwell  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  leave  Col- 
chester with  his  parents  and  so  remained  where  he  was 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  elder  brother,  Edward,  the 
evil  genius  of  an  unhappy  family. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BROTHER  FOLLOWS  BROTHER. 

LON'S    WEAK   POINTS. — ED    IMPROVES   HIS   CHANCE — THE 

COMPACT  BETWEEN    BROTHERS. — LON  LAUNCHED  ON 

THE  SEA  OF  CRIME. — A  DAY'S   RAID. — MUZZLING 

A  MARSHAL. — A   RECORD   EARNED. 

Lon  Maxwell  was  not  naturally  given  to  wrong-doing, 
as  his  brother  Ed  seems  to  have  been.  Like  most  other 
young  men  outside  of  the  doubtful  originals  of  the  characters 
enjoying  an  effeminate  existence  in  Sunday  School  books, 
Lon  had  his  faults  and  his  weaknesses.  He  was  assuredly 
over-fond  of  dissipation  to  a  degree  harmful  both  to  health 
and  morals.  Gaming,  drinking  and  the  society  of  wanton 
women  were  three  things  he  found  he  could  not,  or  at 
least  did  not,  go  without  for  many  weeks  at  a  time.  Be- 
yond this  ordinary  debasement  of  man's  moral  nature,  Lon 
had  not  fallen  at  the  time  Ed  and  himself  were  left  in  Col- 
chester, on  the  family's  separation.  His  occasional  spreeing, 
however,  gave  Ed  many  opportunities  best  suited  to  the 
purpose,  which  were  fully  improved,  and  the  downfall  of  a 

(17) 


1 8  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

brother  was  finally  accomplished,  under  the  following  cir 
cumstances  :  Lon  had  been  drinking  heavily  one  night, 
and  after  losing  all  his  money  at  the  card-table  had  quar- 
relled with  the  woman  he  visited  and  regarded  as  his  mis- 
tress, a  browzy-haired  blonde  he  was  ambitious  to  "  keep," 
after  the  fashion  set  fast  young  men  of  his  class  by  their 
superiors  in  point  of  social  station.  Ed.  met  him  as  he  was 
going  into  a  saloon  to  drown  both  his  real  and  imaginary 
(Sorrows. 

Noticing  his  brother's  half  anger  and  half  distress,  Ed. 
treated  him  at  the  bar  to  a  couple  of  drinks,  and  then  en- 
gaged him  in  close  conversation  in  a  private  corner  of  the 
room  where  the  two  brothers  seated  themselves.  The  old 
subject  thus  renewed  found  Lon  passively  inclined  to  listen 
without  his  usual  interruptions.  Ed.  saw  his  advantage, 
and  pushed  his  point. 

"  Here,  Lon,  take  this,  and  brace  yourself  up  for  business, 
Have  all  the  fun  you  want  of  your  kind,  but  come  with  me 
for  real  sport.  You  bet  I  can  show  you  how  to  get  more 
the  same  way  this  came."  So  saying  Ed.  handed  his  brother 
a  couple  of  twenty  dollar  bills.  Lon  mechanically  reached 
out  his  hand  and  after  slowly  rolling  the  bills  up  into  a  little 
wad,  deposited  them  in  his  vest  pocket,  with  an  air  that 
seemingly  betrayed  his  consciousness  of  having  accepted  an 
offer,  and  received  the  first  payment  of  the  purchase  money 
down,  for  as  much  of  his  life  as  might  remain  until  forfeited 
to  fate  with  death.  Certain  it  was,  that  from  that  hour  Lon 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  19 

Maxwell's  soul  could  not  be  called  wholly  his  own.  At 
length  he  answered: 

"  I  know  what  you  mean,  Ed.,  and  you  know  how  long 
I've  fought  against  it.  But  the  luck  seems  turned  the 
wrong  way  for  me  to-night,  and  I'm  with  you  at  last.  Here's 
my  hand — you  know  whether  you  can  trust  me  or  not." 
The  brothers  parted  for  the  night  without  further  words. 
There  was  no  mistake  about  a  compact  which  gave  Ed.  so 
much  pleasure  that  before  he  went  to  bed  he  drank  deeper 
than  was  his  wont  and  became  quite  hilarious  for  him  at  the 
various  bars  he  visited  in  company  with  his  busy  thoughts. 

It  was  not  long  before  Lon  was  given  an  opportunity  to 
substantiate  the  sincerity  of  words  beyond  his  recall,  how- 
ever much  inclined  he  may  have  been  to  take  them  back,  if 
he  only  could.  To  a  person  of  his  temperament  and  mind, 
there  was  no  escape  from  a  fate  he  had  chosen,  whether  de- 
liberately and  in  his  right  senses  or  not,  for  himself.  Of  the 
three  sons  of  Capt.  Maxwell,  Lon  had  probably  profited 
the  most  from  the  occasional  terms  and  limited  amount  of 
schooling  afforded  them.  But  the  trouble  was  that  a  taste 
for  dime  novel  literature  had  taken  up  the  mental  threads 
where  the  district  school  education  had  dropped  them  all  too 
soon,  which  resulted  in  confusing  and  clouding  perceptions 
of  right  and  wrong  and  creating  a  false  standard  of  personal 
honor.  In  Ed.'s  case  the  evil  thus  wrought  was  far  greater 
than  with  Lon,  but  the  latter  having  taken  the  first  steps 


20  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

on  the  broad  road  was  drawn  constantly  nearer  contaminat- 
ing influences  which  it  was  not  in  the  nature  of  things  as  they 
presented  themselves  to  his  mind  for  him  to  resist  any  great 
length  of  time.  Ed.  cautiously  paved  the  way  for  Lon's 
entrance  on  a  career  of  crime,  the  proper  beginning  of 
which  occupied  his  mind  to  the  exclusion  of  all  thought  as 
to  where  and  how  it  might  end.  Lon  was  at  first  assigned 
the  part  of  the  accomplice  on  watch,  ready  to  render  assis- 
tance in  the  event  only  of  its  being  needed,  while  Ed.  per- 
formed the  more  hazardous  duties  of  the  expedition  him- 
self. Several  minor  robberies  were  committed  in  this  way 
by  the  brothers  in  adjoining  neighborhoods,  and  considera- 
ble booty  of  the  kind  was  obtained,  which  seemed  to  recon- 
cile Lon  to  his  new  method  of  making  a  living.  Lon  soon 
found  that  work  in  the  store  by  day,  when  his  nights  were 
so  often  employed  in  another  field  of  operations,  was  both 
irksome  and  illy-paid,  and  he  thus  came  to  adopt  Ed.'s 
scheme  of  hiring  out  to  some  farmer  in  the  country,  as  a 
cover  to  his  real  line  of  business,  mainly  transacted  after 
dark. 

Both  Ed.  and  Lon  had  been  known  from  boyhood  up  as 
remarkably  fine  shots.  Each  was  an  expert  in  the  use  of 
the  rifle,  shot-gun  and  revolver.  They  were  often  in  the 
woods,  and  in  the  absence  of  ordinary  game  they  would  find 
amusement  for  hours  at  a  time  in  firing  at  inanimate  ob- 
jects, which  served  their  purpose  better  than  the  common 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  21 

target.  They  became  skillful  marksmen,  and  at  the  same 
time  obtained  a  knowledge  of  wood-craft  which  afterward 
came  to  their  aid  when  they  were  sore  pressed  to  push  every 
advantage  they  could  command,  owing  to  the  apparent  odds 
against  them. 

Lon's  appetite  for  adventure,  on  being  whetted  by  his  first 
few  experiences  under  Ed.'s  leadership,  speedily  grew  upon 
him.  He  told  Ed.  that  he  wanted  to  "  take  a  full  hand  "  in 
their  future  depredations.  Said  he  :  "  If  I  do  get  the 
name,  why  I  propose  to  have  the  game  ;  that's  all." 

Ed.  was  of  course  only  too  glad  to  admit  Lon  into  a  full 
partnership  of  crime  with  him,  and  from  that  time  on,  the 
acts  of  the  Maxwell  brothers  became  bolder,  and  both 
"  name  "  and  "  game  "  got  to  be  theirs  by  common  report. 

They  had  just  about  made  up  their  own  minds  to  quit 
Colchester  as  a  loafing  place,  owing  to  its  precincts  becom- 
ing too  hot  for  their  comfort,  when  they  were  forced  to 
leave  in  short  order  to  avoid  arrest,  on  warrants  charging 
them  with  a  series  of  daring  highway  robberies  in  different 
parts  of  the  county  committed  during  the  few  days  previous. 
These  robberies  were  unparalleled  in  McDonough  county 
for  the  coolness  and  boldness  which  characterized  the 
young  highwaymen. 

Starting  out  on  horseback  one  morning  in  the  direction  of 
the  town  of  La  Harpe,  the  subject  of  a  big  steal  with  some 
sport  about  it  came  up  between  the  brothers,  Lon  remarked : 


22  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

"  It's  a  fine  day  for  harvesting,  Ed.  You  and  I  might  be 
in  the  field  working,  too.  But  seeing  we've  got  started  for 
a  vacation,  suppose  we  stop  in  and  see  the  women  folks  as 
we  go  along." 

"  Yes,  you  bet.  And  we'll  look  through  the  houses  at  the 
same  time,  and  pick  up  what  we  can  lay  our  hands  on  easy. 
It's  a  good  scheme,  Lon,  and  we'll  have  some  fun  out  of  it." 

Plans  were  hastily  laid,  and  on  coming  to  the  next  farm- 
house, they  dismounted  and  tied  their  horses  to  the  fence. 
Going  up  to  the  house,  Lon  asked  the  young  woman  who 
stood  in  the  doorway  for  a  drink  of  water.  She  went  into 
a  rear  room  to  get  it,  and  both  brothers,  not  waiting  for  an 
invitation,  came  in  the  house  and  seated  themselves.  The 
girl  returned  with  the  water,  followed  by  her  mother  and 
several  little  children.  Lon  took  the  cup  and  drank  as  if 
really  thirsty,  while  Ed.  commenced  a  conversation  with  the 
lady  of  the  house.  "  Where  are  all  the  men  ?" 

"  They're  working  down  in  the  field.  You  can  go  and 
see  them  there  if  you  want  to,  as  they  won't  come  up  to 
the  house  till  noon. " 

"  That's  all  right.  We  haven't  any  business  with  them. 
It's  you  women  folks  we  come  to  see.  Now  don't  get  ex- 
cited, but  keep  quiet  and  keep  those  young  ones'  mouths 
shut.  We  are  armed  and  are  going  to  do  as  we  please,  but 
if  you  do  what  we  tell  you,  we  won't  harm  you  any.  We 
come  for  plunder,  and  we  want  to  be  quick  about  it.  " 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  23 

Throwing  open  their  coats  the  Maxwells  contented  them- 
selves with  simply  showing  up  the  formidable  little  arsenal 
they  carried  on  their  persons,  and  had  everything  their  own 
way  without  drawing  a  revolver. 

"  Now ,  Lon,  I'll  stay  here  with  the  children  and  the  girl, 
and  you  go  through  the  house  with  the  good  lady  here,  and 
pick  up  what  valuables  you  come  across.  And  mind  that  she 
shows  you  where  everything  is. " 

The  terrorized  women  could  not  but  comply,  and  while 
Lon  was  foraging  through  the  rest  of  the  house,  under  the 
enforced  guidance  of  the  mother,  Ed.  made  the  daughter 
perform  a  similar  service  for  him  in  the  sitting-room  where 
they  were.  In  a  short  time  Lon  and  his  guide  returned, 
with  two  watches,  a  purse  containing  several  dollars  in 
change,  and  a  black  silk  cravat  Lon  had  taken  a  fancy  to. 
Ed.  having  seen  nothing  around  the  room  that  was  worth 
his  while  to  purloin,  had  only  secured  a  couple  of  rings  from 
the  fingers  of  the  daughter  and  her  pocket-book,  which  lat- 
ter he  returned  to  her  on  opening  and  finding  it  empty. 
At  Lon's  request  the  rings  were  also  returned  to  the 
girl. 

"  This  has  been  a  poor  haul,  Lon,  and  if  we  had  the  time 
we'd  stop  awhile  and  have  our  satisfaction  out  of  these  la- 
dies. But  we  must  be  moving  and  perhaps  we'll  have  bet- 
ter luck  next  time. "  Bidding  the  women  good-day,  they 
touched  their  hats,  Ed.  rather  awkwardly  but  Lon  with  a 


24  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

careless  grace  which  many  a  polished  society  man  might 
envy,  and  swinging  themselves  into  their  saddles  they  rode 
rapidly  away. 

During  that  day,  ten  farmers'  houses  were  visited  in  the 
manner  above  described,  and  in  some  instances  as  much  as 
$100  in  bills  was  secured  by  the  daring  freebooters.     At 
several  places  they  met  with  farmers'  daughters  so  rosy- 
cheeked  and  plump  as  to  cause  Lon  to  wish  that  their  busi- 
ness could  be  made  to  wait  upon  his  pleasure  occasionally. 
He  did  not  need  to  be  told  by  Ed.,  however,  of  the  folly  of 
wasting  precious  time,  as  well  as  the  great  and  unnecessary 
danger  to  which  they  would  expose  themselves  by  going 
out  of  their  way  as  gentlemanly  robbers  to  storm  the  un- 
protected citadel  of  a  country  lassie's  virtue.     So  the  women 
were  not  harmed  in  the  least,  and  it  is  likely  enough  that, 
in  spite  of  the  raid  on  the  valuable  effects  of  their  husbands' 
and  fathers'  homes,  they  were  even  sensible  in  a  manner  of 
a  certain  indescribable  charm  attaching  to  the  character  of 
the  polite  pillager,  such  as  the  dashing  Lon  Maxwell  cer- 
tainly was  at  this  time.     Before  dark  the   officers  of  La 
Harpe  were  on  the  track  of  the  Maxwells,  who  had  kept 
on  straight  ahead,  stopping  at  about  sunset  at  a  cross-road 
saloon.     They  were  overtaken  here  by  the  town  marshal 
and  a  posse  of  six  men.     The  marshal,  accompanied  by  two 
men,  went  into  the  saloon  where  the  Maxwell  brothers  sat 
at  a  small  table  with  a  lunch  and  beer  set  out  before  them 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  25 

Placing  a  hand  on  Ed.'s  shoulder,  the  marshal  remarked : 
"  You  are  my  prisoner.  " 

In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  Ed.  drew  a  revolver  and  cov- 
ering the  officer,  exclaimed :  «  Not  if  I  know  myself." 

At  the  same  moment  Lon  drew  two  revolvers  from  his 
belt  and  pointing  them  at  the  two  deputies,  intimated  that 
they  would  consult  their  own  welfare  by  a  speedy  exit  the 
way  they  came.  The  discomfited  marshal  and  his  men  re- 
tired precipitately,  and  the  Maxwells,  each  with  a  cocked 
revolver  in  either  hand,  had  the  solid  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  entire  pursuing  party  remount  and  take  up  the  home- 
ward line  of  march.  After  finishing  their  lunch  and  wash- 
ing it  down  with  a  couple  of  glasses  of  beer,  the  brothers 
rode  off  in  the  darkness. 

This  day's  exploits  advertised  their  outlawry  to  the  world, 
and  henceforth  the  Maxwell  brothers  were  popularly  re- 
puted to  be  among  the  most  fearless  and  dangerous  types  of 
their  class. 


.  CHAPTER  III. 
A  FULL  HAND  AT  OUTLAWRY. 

r 

TAKING  AN    INTEREST   IN    HORSE    FLESH. — A  SLICK  TRADE 
ALL     ON     ONE     SIDE.  —  HORSE     STEALING    BY    MOON- 
LIGHT.— A  NIGHT'S  SPORT  AND  THE  NEXT  MORN- 
ING'S   PERIL. — AN    EVEN   EXCHANGE. — 
BAFFLED   PURSUERS. 

The  attention  of  the  Maxwell  brothers  was  next  paid 
particularly  to  the  blooded  stock  interests  of  their  State, 
and  they  were  not  long  in  cultivating  a  mania  for  fine  horse 
flesh.  As  stolen  fruit  is  said  to  be  the  sweetest,  so  are 
stolen  horses  evidently  rated  by  an  outlaw  as  the  fleetest. 
Ed.  and  Lon  Maxwell  certainly  made  the  most  of  this 
maxim  among  thieves,  and  for  several  years  studied  horse- 
stealing  as  a  science.  Their  signal  success  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  they  evaded  capture  for  so  long  a  period 
without  being  compelled  to  leave  Illinois  for  the  more  con- 
genial clime  of  Texas  or  New  Mexico. 

(26) 


Lift  of  Williams  Brothers.  27 

Experience  is  admittedly  the  greatest  of  instructors  ;  and 
it  may  teach  evil  as  rapidly  and  as  thoroughly  as  it  can 
good.  The  Maxwells  were  not  long  in  getting  fully  initiat- 
ed in  all  the  arts  and  artifices  of  the  expert  horse-thief,  and 
with  the  practical  knowledge  of  woodcraft  they  had  picked 
up,  they  were  rightfully  regarded  to  be  as  hard  game  of 
the  kind  to  bag  as  the  Illinois  sheriffs  had  ever  encountered. 
Like  most  men  of  their  stamp  they  were  fond  of  proving 
their  prowess  and  would  frequently  go  out  of  their  way 
to  display  a  daring  worthy  a  better  cause.  There  were 
none  shrewder  than  they,  at  the  same  time,  when  it  became 
necessary  to  draw  an  immediate  conclusion  about  the 
chances  which,  to  use  a  slang  phrase,  they  were  "  compelled 
to  take  in  their  business."  Ed.  Maxwell  never  was  as  much 
addicted  as  his  brother  to  any  of  the  three  small  vices 
wherein  Lon  was  weakest,  and  when  on  "  business"  of 
recognized  importance  both  brothers  kept  their  heads  clear 
and  cool  for  the  emergency  liable  to  arise  at  any  moment. 

Their  stolen  horses  were  either  disposed  of  at  some 
county  fair  in  progress  in  a  distant  part  of  the  interior,  or 
sold  to  one  of  the  numerous  dealers  in  that  kind  of  horse- 
flesh, who  generally  shipped  them  from  different  points, 
mostly  on  the  river,  (Mississippi),  to  St.  Louis.  Ed.  and 
Lon  changed  their  own  saddle  horses  quite  frequently  for 
obvious  reasons. 

At  some  of  these  rural  fairs  they  would  figure  extensively 


28  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

as  jockeys,  under  assumed  names  of  course.  On  one  of 
these  occasions,  after  concluding  the  sale  of  two  fine  horses, 
stolen  only  a  few  days  before  within  100  miles  from  where 
they  then  were,  a  dispute  arose  between  Ed.  and  one  of  the 
two  purchasers,  who  were  cousins  by  the  name  of  Court- 
ney. On  counting  over  the  money  paid  him  for  the  horses 
while  they  were  all  four  taking  a  friendly  drink  together  in 
a  neighboring  saloon,  Ed.  claimed  to  have  discovered  some- 
thing wrong. 

"  There  is  a  five  dollar  bill  short  here,  gentlemen." 
"  I  don't  see  how  that  comes,"  said  one  of  the  Courtneys, 
who  looked  up  suspiciously  at  the  remark  and  the  tone  in 
which  it  was  made. 

"  There  is  only  one  way  to  account  for  it,"  continued  Ed. 
with  an  oath.  "  You  smart  alecks  took  me  for  a  greeny 
who  couldn't  count  small  bills.  I'm  up  with  you,  boys,  and 
you  shan't  forget  it  soon,  I  tell  you." 

With  this  Ed.  pulled  his  ready  revolver,  Lon  reluctantly 
following  suit,  whereat  the  bar-keeper  and  the  two  Court- 
neys, being  unarmed  and  probably  without  much  experience 
in  handling  weapons,  put  on  a  terribly  scared  look.  A  five 
dollar  bill  was  hurriedly  produced,  and  tendered  to  Ed. 
through  the  bar-keeper,  the  Courtneys  fearing  to  move  lest 
one  of  those  little  "  pet  murderers "  should  blaze  away  in 
their  direction. 
"  I  don't  want  your  money  at  all.  The  trade's  off.  We 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  29 

didn't  draw  our  revolvers  to  shoot  you  fellows.  It's  only  a 
measure  of  self  defense  with  us,  that's  all," — saying  which 
he  and  Lon  put  up  their  pops,  and  Ed.  went  on  to  say  with 
a  hoarse  laugh :  "  Come,  get  over  your  scare,  and  we'll  go 
outside  and  change  back.  You  can  have  your  money  and 
we'll  keep  the  horses." 

There  was  no  refusing  anything  he  might  propose,  and 
the  four  went  out  and  crossing  the  street  proceeded  to  where 
the  two  horses  had  been  tied  by  the  Courtneys.  On  the 
way  Ed.  gave  Lon  an  expressive  wink,  unobserved,  and  in 
a  moment  the  brothers  understood  each  other  and  with- 
out a  word  being  spoken  had  laid  their  plans.  Lon  walked 
to  where  their  own  or  the  horses  they  were  then  riding 
were  hitched,  and  untied  them.  Ed.  meanwhile  engaged 
the  Courtneys  in  conversation,  and  seemingly  was  being 
persuaded  by  them  to  let  the  bargain  stand. 

"  I'll  let  my  pardner,  here,  decide  it,  gentlemen,  and  then 
we  must  be  going,  as  we've  got  a  little  business  to  attend  to 
around  town.  Here  he  comes  now  with  our  horses." 

Lon  came  up  with  the  ready  saddled  horses,  and  was  ap- 
pealed to  by  the  Courtneys.  Ed.  stood  by,  with  the  halters 
of  the  other  two  horses  in  his  hand,  and  in  almost  less  time 
than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  he  had  handed  one  of  the  halters  to 
Lon,  and  they  had  both  mounted  in  their  saddles. 

"  Gentlemen,  good  afternoon.  Remember  the  Maxwell 
brothers  !" 


3Q  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

With  this  dare-devil's  speech  by  Lon,  the  Courtneys  saw 
the  last  of  the  horses  they  had  bought  and  the  money  they 
had  paid  for  them.  The  Maxwells  dashed  down  the  road 
at  a  hard  gallop,  the  two  led  horses  having  all  they  could  do 
to  keep  up  with  the  animals  under  bit  and  spur.  Pursuit 
was  organized  at  once,  but  on  learning  from  the  marshal  in 
the  place  who  the  Maxwell  boys  were,  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  pursuing  party  allowed  a  full  hour  to  pass  before  getting 
started.  It  is  needless  to  add,  that  the  bold  bandits  were 
not  caught  this  time. 

On  paying  a  second  night's  visit  to  a  neighborhood  they 
would  change  their  tactics  as  completely  as  possible,  in  order 
to  throw  people  off  their  guard  and  to  effect  both  what  they 
came  for  and  an  easy  escape.  If  they  stole  a  few  horses  in 
a  certain  locality  on  a  dark  night,  they  would  make  sure  of 
a  bright  moonlit  canopy  o'erhead  when  they  wished  to  make 
another  raid  thereabouts.  Moonlight  nights  were  general- 
ly  preferred  by  them,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  only  on 
dark  nights,  as  a  rule,  that  extra  precautions  were  taken  to 
prevent  horses  from  being  run  off  by  thieves.  They  would 
wait  until  the  stillness  of  past  midnight,  and  then  securing 
only  as  many  horses  as  they  could  manage  to  take  care  of, 
they  would  ride  off  at  their  ease.  When  surprised,  or  when 
put  to  the  necessity  of  shooting  a  dog  or  two  and  thus  alarm- 
ing a  somnolent  household,  the  Maxwells  would  get  away 
with  but  one  horse  apiece,  in  addition  to  the  ones  they  rode. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  31 

Wiien  convenient,  and  the  risk  was  not  too  great,  they 
would  come  on  foot,  with  a  bridle  and  blanket  each,  in  the 
expectation,  generally  realized,  of  obtaining  both  horses  to 
ride  and  others  to  lead.  It  was  seldom,  at  this  exciting 
period  of  their  lives,  that  they  had  occasion  to  hire  out  to 
anybody.  Continually  on  the  go,  from  one  place  to  an- 
other, they  found  the  few  friends  they  cared  to  have  among 
the  dissolute  and  depraved  classes,  to  be  met  with  every- 
where. 

Visiting  one  evening  a  town  in  Tazewell  county,  where 
they  were  unknown,  Ed.  and  Lon  were  attracted  to  a  low 
den,  where  a  dance  was  in  progress.  On  occasions  of  this 
kind  Lon  always  took  a  leading  hand,  and  joined  every  set 
on  the  floor  as  well  as  responding  to  the  drawling  call  of 
"  Choose  your  partners  for  the  next  waltz."  Ed.  posed,  not 
very  gracefully,  as  a  wall-flower,  deigning  now  and  then  to 
chaff  some  blear-eyed  "belle"  and  perhaps  accept  her  invitat- 
ion to  step  up  to  the  bar  and  pay  for  two  drinks  of  the  devil's 
own  fluid  dealt  out  recklessly  at  these  places.  On  this 
evening  Lon  imbibed  rather  too  freely  of  the  miserable 
adulteration  of  whisky,  and  wishing  to  go  to  bed  and  sleep 
off  the  effects  of  his  debauch,  proposed  to  Ed.  that  they 
pass  the  night  where  they  were.  To  this  Ed.  readily  as- 
sented, and  after  seeing  their  horses  made  comfortable  in 
the  small  stable  attached  to  the  place,  he  followed  Lon's  ex- 
ample, and  select'"'"  °  rompanion  from  among  the  "  ladies" 


32  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

of  the  establishment  retired  for  the  night.  At  the  early 
hour  when  "  day  begins  to  break  and  night  is  fled,"  Ed.  was 
awake  and  lying  quiet  amid  the  stillness  unbroken  through- 
out the  house  save  by  the  deep  breathings  of  its  inmates 
sleeping  off  their  stupefaction  with  liquor,  he  heard  unusual 
sounds  without,  which  his  ear,  ever  quick  to  catch  the  like, 
told  him  were  the  stealthy  footsteps  of  men.  Rising,  he 
stepped  on  tip-toe  to  the  window,  and  drawing  aside  the 
curtain  a  trifle,  peered  out  on  a  group  of  armed  men,  in  se- 
cret consultation,  near  the  house.  Dressing  himself  hurried- 
ly and  quietly,  Ed.  went  to  the  room  where  Lon  lay  sound- 
ly sleeping,  and  shaking  him  up  to  consciousness,  bade  him 
dress  and  "fix"  himself  for  business.  The  brothers  returned 
together  to  the  room  which  Ed.  had  just  left,  and  held  a 
whispered  council  of  war. 

"We're  trapped,  Lon,  but  not  caught  yet,  by  a  jug-full. 
Those  fellows  are  as  near  their  game  right  now  as  they  ever 
will  be." 

Ed's  surmise  that  the  party  outside  was  a  Sheriffs  posse, 
in  search  of  his  brother  and  himself,  was  correct.  Learning 
of  their  whereabouts  the  day  before,  the  officers  of  the  law 
had  managed  creditably  enough  to  track  the  Maxwell's  to 
their  present  lair.  Arrived  at  the  house  where  the  despera- 
does were  as  good  as  known  to  be  quartered,  the  SherifFs 
men  were  debating  on  how  next  to  proceed  with  the 
dangerous  business  in  hand.  While  the  perty  outside  hesi- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers*  33 

tated  before  adopting  the  offensive,  the  Maxwell  brothers, 
who  were  wider-awake  on  the  inside  than  their  would-be 
captors  had  any  idea  of,  resolved  to  make   a  break  of  some 
sort,  and  rousing  up  the  woman  in  whose  room  they  were, 
then  questioned  her  about  the  different  modes  of  egress  from 
the  house.    Pointing  a  revolver  at  her  aching  head  had  the 
combined  effect  of  keeping  her  still  and  getting  a  satis- 
factory answer.    She  informed  them  that  there  was  a  side 
entrance  opening  at  one  side  of  a  private  parlor,  which  was 
situated  in  the  rear  of  the  building.     This  entrance  was 
rarely  used  save  by  certain  prominent  citizens  of  the  town 
who  were  not  above  visiting  the  bagnio  when  their  presence 
could  be  concealed.    At  Ed's  command  the  woman  led  the 
way  to  the   private  parlor  and  unbolted  the  door  leading 
into  the  passage  which  terminated  in  the  alley,  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  street  running  parallel  with  that  on  which 
the  dance-house  fronted.    Fearing  to  trust  her  to  keep 
silence  five  minutes  after  their  departure,  the  Maxwells  led 
the  woman  back  to  her  room  and  tearing  one  of  the  sheets 
into  strips  tied  her  arms  and  legs  together  and  put  a  gag  in 
her  mouth.     Then  telling  her  not  to  attempt  to  release  her- 
self under  penalty  of  being  killed  some  time  for  it,  and  to 
lay  quiet  where  she  was  until  she  was  set  free,  they  stole 
away  from  the  house  with  stealthy  steps,  and  gaining  the 
other  street  were  so  fortunate  as  to  find  themselves  near  by 
a  livery  stable.    The  stable  had  just  been  opened  by  a  lad, 


34  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

who  was  alone  at  the  time.  Accosting  him  with  drawn 
revolvers,  the  brothers  ordered  him  to  saddle  two  of  his  best 
horses  on  the  instant.  The  boy  did  as  he  was  bidden,  with 
the  assistance  of  Lon,  and  in  about  three  minutes  the  Max- 
wells were  mounted  on  every  bit  as  sound  steeds  as  those 
they  were  compelled  to  leave  behind  them.  The  exchange, 
under  the  circumstances,  was  not  disagreeable  to  them,  and 
inasmuch  as  they  never  rode  anything  but  stolen  horses,  it 
mattered  but  little  in  their  minds  in  whose  name  a  bill  of 
sale  might  be  made  out.  Riding  off  at  a  right  smart  pace, 
with  no  one  the  wiser  at  the  time  to  hinder  their  departure, 
they  were  inclined  to  be  jolly. 

"  I  wonder  how  the  the  old  gal  feels  by  this  time.  She's 
welcome  to  her  life  now  if  she  turns  herself  loose  and  raises 
the  whole  town,"  and  Ed.  gave  a  prolonged  chuckle. 

"  I'd  like  to  be  around,  in  somebody  else's  clothes,  when 
those  greenhorns  outside  spunk  up  courage  enough  to  enter 
the  house.  They'll  take  on  a  heap  when  they  find  out  that 
we've  skipped,  but  you  bet  your  boots  they  won't  feel  as 
sorry  as  they  make  out."  Lon  laughed  outright  at  the  scene 
he  pictured  to  himself,  and  on  the  brothers  rode  right  mer- 
rily. They  had  stopped  for  breakfast  at  a  farm  house  some 
three  miles  away,  before  their  flight  was  known  to  the 
sheriflfs  squad,  which  had  just  been  ordered  to  move  on 
the  house,  when  a  messenger  from  the  livery  stable  came  to 
them  with  news  of  the  daring  robbery  of  two  horses  that 
had  taken  place  a  half  hour  before.  The  inmates  of  the 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  35 

dance  house  were  aroused,  and  a  useless  guard  was  stationed 
at  each  door,  until  it  was  ascertained  beyond  all  doubt  that 
the  birds  of  prey  had  flown.  The  chagrin  of  the  sheriff 
was  exceeding  great,  though  it  is  probable  that  the  majority 
of  the  men  with  him  were  secretly  glad  of  their  own  escape 
from  a  dreaded  encounter,  Lon  Maxwell  having  "  sized  " 
them  up  pretty  accurately.  While  the  sheriff  had  secured 
two  stolen  horses,  he  had  indirectly  caused  the  theft  of  two 
others  equally  as  valuable,  and  it  is  little  wonder  that  he  re- 
turned home  with  his  posse  very  much  crestfallen  and  out 
of  spirits. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FAST  AND   LOOSE. 

WELL-EARNED   FAME. — VISITING    MINNESOTA   AND    WIS- 
CONSIN.  LON'S     HALF-WISH. AN     EXTENDED 

FIELD   OF   OPERATIONS. — A   COOL  "CALL*' 
ON     THE     HIGHWAY. —  THE     TIME 

A     SHERIFF      GOT      LEFT. A 

CLEVER    RUSE. 

The  fame  of  the  Maxwell  brothers  was  not  long  in 
spreading  all  over  the  State,  and  with  warrants  out  for  their 
apprehension  in  a  number  of  Illinois  counties,  the  boys  be- 
came convinced  that  it  would  be  to  their  interest  to  absent 
themselves  every  now  and  then  and  enjoy  a  spell  of  rest  and 
recreation  in  other  commonwealths.  For  some  reason  they 
had  never  fancied  Texas  and  the  Southwest  very  much,  and 
besides  did  not  feel  the  need,  as  yet,  of  making  straight  for 
that  part  of  our  civilization's  end  familiarly  known  as  the 
"  murderers'  paradise."  When  they  left  Illinois,  it  was  only 
for  a  fortnight  or  so,  and  their  favorite  pleasure  resorts  were 
sought  and  found  in  the  beautiful  States  of  Minnesota  and 
Wisconsin.  Their  early  visits  to  these  States  were  made 

(36) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  37 

solely  with  the  view  of  exercising  what  might  not  so  very 
inappropriately  have  been  called  their  "  right  of  asylum," 
and  with  no  evil  designs  on  the  equinal  property  of  the 
farmers  of  the  Northwest.  Immediately  following  some 
bold  escapade  down  among  the  "  Suckers,"  credited  to  the 
renowned  Maxwell  brothers,  the  population  of  Wisconsin 
or  Minnesota  would  be  temporarily  increased  by  two  young 
men,  appearing  sometimes  in  the  guise  of  raw  country  work- 
ing-hands, and  at  other  times  dressed  and  behaved  like  well- 
to-do  young  gentlemen  of  considerable  means  and  some 
education.  Lon  much  preferred  the  costume  and  character 
of  a  gentleman,  while  Ed.  was  generally  indifferent,  with  a 
slight  predisposition,  perhaps,  for  the  coarser  garb  and  ruder 
station  in  life. 

It  was  during  one  of  their  visits  to  Wisconsin  that  Lon's 
fancy  was  taken  by  a  certain  charm  about  life  in  the  lumber 
districts  of  the  Badger  State,  and  an  attachment  was  half- 
way formed  by  him  for  a  mode  of  existence  wonderfully 
placid  and  peaceful  by  contrast  with  his  own  roving  life  of 
desperate  adventure,  which  afterward  ripened,  for  a  brief 
while  to  blossom  like  a  summer's  rose  !  If  ever  Ed.  was 
sensible  of  receiving  impressions  of  this  sentimental  charac- 
ter, while  in  Wisconsin  or  Minnesota,  he  kept  his  thoughts 
to  himself,  and  treated  Lon's  confidences  of  this  character  as 
extremely  childish.  Ed.  formed  a  liking  of  his  own  for 
Minnesota,  but  it  was  most  assuredly  not  on  account  of  the 
matchless  scenic  beauty  of  its  "  laughing  waters,"  its  crystal 


*8  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

cascades,  and  its  mirroring  lakes.  The  oftener  he  visited  its 
towns  the  more  persuaded  he  became  that  here  lay  a  fruit- 
ful field,  awaiting  industrious  cultivation  of  the  peculiar  kind 
he  felt  himself  to  be  fully  competent  to  undertake.  The 
brothers  were  frequently  at  Stillwater,  and  it  is  thought 
planned  there  many  an  expedition  after  plunder. 

While  horse-stealing  was  unquestionably  their  forte,  the 
/Maxwells  were  not  by  any  means  above  robbing  stores  by 
night,  or  when  opportunity  offered  of  relieving  travelers 
on  the  highway  of  any  extra  money  or  valuables  they 
might  have  in  their  pockets.  They  grew  restive  of  the  re- 
straint which  their  good  behavior  while  away  from  home 
put  on  them,  and  it  came  to  pass  very  naturally,  therefore, 
that  before  many  months  from  the  date  of  their  first  appear- 
ance in  the  Northwest  they  began  to  ply  their  criminal 
trade  there  with  as  much  confidence  as  in  Illinois.  Sev- 
eral horses  stolen  near  Stillwater,  and  never  heard  of  again, 
are  now  believed  to  have  been  run  off,  on  the  bright  moon- 
light night  they  were  last  fed  and  watered  by  their  owners, 
and  disposed  of  effectively  some  time  after, by  the  Maxwell 
brothers. 

Shortly  before  this  a  party  of  four  farmers,  two  of  whom 
were  in  a  wagon  and  the  other  two  mounted,  were  stopped 
on  the  highway  in  the  same  neighborhood,  at  about  dusk,  by 
two  armed  men,  whose  long  black  beards  were  plainly  false 
ones.  With  four  six-shooters  pointed  at  their  heads,  the  badly 
non-plused  grangers  were  at  the  mercy  of  their  captors. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  39 

"  Gentlemen,  oblige  us  by  *  shelling  out '  at  once,  and 
you  won't  be  detained  long. "  Eyeing  the  black  gelding 
and  brown  mare  which  the  two  mounted  men  rode,  the 
speaker  who  was  none  other,  probably,  than  Ed.  Maxwell, 
continued :  "  As  for  you  gents  in  the  saddle,  we'll  have  to 
trouble  you  to  dismount. " 

The  farmers  on  the  wagon-seat  handed  over  their  pocket- 
books,  which  v\  ere  inspected  by  one  of  the  outlaws,  while 
the  other  stood  guard.  Only  $65  was  found  in  both  purses, 
and  a  levy  was  next  made  on  the  horsemen  who  had  dis- 
mounted and  obediently  held  their  horses  by  the  bridles. 
The  second  collection  only  produced  $20  more,  whereupon 
the  spokesman  of  the  occasion  remarked :  "  Not  enough 
cash,  my  friends.  We'll  have  to  take  your  horses  to  get 
paid  for  our  pains. " 

One  of  them  thereupon  got  down  from  his  horse  and  ad- 
vancing to  where  the  two  men  stood  at  their  horses'  heads, 
was  allowed  without  a  protest  to  take  the  bridle  of  each  in 
his  right  hand,  while  significantly  flourishing  in  his  left  a 
cocked  revolver.  Mounting  one  of  the  horses  thus  easily 
obtained,  he  stood  his  turn  in  guarding  their  four  powerless 
prisoners,  while  his  comrade,  or  brother  more  likely,  ex- 
changed his  seat  likewise  from  the  back  of  one  stolen  horse 
to  that  of  another.  Leading  the  horses  they  had  themselves 
dismounted  from  by  their  halter  straps  the  highwaymen 
sang  out  a  "  Good  Evening,  Gents ! "  and  rode  away  at  a 
rapid  pace.  The  horses  they  were  riding  just  previous  to 


40  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

this  exploit,  were  found  a  few  days  afterward  in  the  stable 
of  a  widow,  who  carried  on  the  business  of  farming  on  a 
small  scale  with  the  assistance  of  two  sons.  She  was  inno- 
cent of  any  knowledge  of  the  horses  beyond  the  fact  that 
two  strange  men  had  left  them  in  her  keeping  for  a  few 
days  and  had  paid  her  liberally  for  the  feed  and  care  they 
bargained  for. 

Although  this  daring  piece  of  highway  robbery  by  day- 
light was  never  brought  home  direct  to  the  Maxwells,  the 
opinion  is  general  among  the  best  informed  in  the  matter 
that  they  were  responsible  for  this  among  the  numerous 
acts  of  lawlessness  of  a  similar  and  of  other  kinds  with 
which  their  names  were  intimately  interwoven  at  the  time. 
Of  a  truth,  things  came  to  such  a  pass,  in  certain  portions 
of  Illinois  and  Minnesota,  that  whenever  an  unusually  bold 
robbery  of  any  kind  was  committed,  and  the  perpetrators  of 
it  were  not  positively  proven  to  be  other  parties,  the  same 
was  credited  in  full  to  the  Maxwells. 

Revisiting  their  old  haunts  about  Colchester,  McDonough 
county,  the  Maxwells  were  recognized  and  reported  as  hav- 
ing been  seen  in  the  neighborhood,  to  the  sheriff.  They 
were  not  without  friends,  on  their  side,  and  were  warned 
that  the  officers  were  on  their  track.  Nothing  daunted, 
and  little  fearing,  Ed.  and  Lon  told  their  old  associates  that 
they  proposed  to  take  their  own  time  about  leaving  the 
county.  Their  words  were  repeated  with  the  usual  exag- 
eration  to  the  sheriff  and  that  officer  made  ready  to  act  as 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  41 

if  in  response  to  a  challenge  from  the  desperadoes  to  come 
on  and  take  them  if  he  could.  Now  the  Maxwells  were 
not  the  kind  of  men  to  needlessly  invite  the  interference 
with  their  plans  by  officers  of  the  law,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact  had  sent  the  sheriff  no  direct  message  at  all.  The  lat- 
ter officer,  however,  proceeded  with  his  arrangements  to 
capture,  if  possible,  a  couple  of  hardened  and  desperate 
criminals,  who  had  openly  defied  him  to  arrest  them.  A 
large  posse  was  sworn  in  and  preparations  made  for  a  "  fell 
swoop"  down  upon  the  Maxwells,  who  were  understood  to 
be  harbored  at  the  house  of  a  notoriously  hard  character  re- 
siding on  the  outskirts  of  Colchester.  An  "  unlucky  "  Fri- 
day night  was  chosen  as  the  time,  and  the  members  of  the 
sheriff's  company,  numbering  twelve  men  in  all,  rendez- 
voused at  nine  o'clock,  at  a  place  about  four  miles  distant 
from  the  supposed  point  of  attack.  The  cunning  Maxwells 
were  not  to  be  trapped  so  easily,  for  they  had  kept  posted 
thoroughly  during  the  few  days  previous,  as  to  the  Sheriff's 
impending  movements.  Informed  that  they  were  to  be  sur- 
rounded and  taken  at  whatever  cost  as  sure  as  Friday  night 
came,  the  brothers  coolly  received  the  intelligence  as  a  good 
joke — "  too  bully  good  to  keep  long,"  Ed.  is  said  to  have 
told  their  host.  After  eating  their  supper  on  the  Friday 
night,  which  Lon,  with  a  laugh,  "  reckoned  would  be  the 
last  seen  of  the  Maxwell  boys  "  for  some  time,  but  not  for 
the  reason  the  sheriff  would  have  unhesitatingly  stated,  the 
brothers  remained  in  conversation  with  their  friend  and  his 


42  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

wife  until  the  clock  struck  nine.  At  the  sound  they  rose  to 
their  feet. 

"  In  one  hour  this  house  will  be  surrounded  by  a  parcel 
of  fools,  and  we  will  be  —  never  mind  where,  but 
out  of  reach  of  their  kind,  you  bet  your  life,"  Ed.  re- 
marked. 

Their  saddle  horses  were  brought  out  of  the  stable,  and 
bidding  the  people  of  the  house  a  pleasant  "  Good-night  !" 
Ed.  and  Lon  Maxwell  rode  away  as  yet  free  as  the  wind 
that  lightly  played  with  the  rustling  leaves  overhead.  After 
proceeding  about  five  miles  they  turned  and  doubled  on 
their  track,  a  favorite  trick  of  theirs  when  pressed,  halting 
every  little  while  for  sounds  and  signs.  They  were  reward- 
ed for  their  skilful  pains,  before  long,  by  hearing  the  clatter- 
ing noises  made  by  an  approaching  cavalcade.  Hastily 
making  for  the  timber  at  one  side  of  the  road,  and  rubbing 
their  horses'  nostrils  with  hands  wet  in  whiskey,  to  prevent 
their  neighing,  the  Maxwells  remained  securely  hidden 
while  their  pursuers  rode  past  almost  within  reach  of  them. 

When  the  sheriff's  party  had  ranged  their  "  stone-wall" 
about  the  suspected  house,  a  loud  "  hello!"  was  sounded, 
which  brought  the  owner  of  the  dwelling  to  the  door  with 
a  candle.  It  did  not  take  long  for  the  officers  to  satisfy 
themselves  that  their  game  was  gone,  and  on  plying  the 
man  and  woman  of  the  house  with  questions  at  the  mouth 
of  revolvers,  the  only  satisfaction  afforded  was  the  intelli- 
gence that  the  Maxwells  had  indeed  taken  supper  there 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  43 

but  had  departed  a  half-hour  or  so  before,  in  a  certain 
direction,  which  was  pointed  out  under  compulsion. 

The  Maxwells  made  their  way  back  cautiously  to  the 
house  they  had  left  hardly  an  hour  earlier,  and  quietly 
: aroused  its  inmates. 

"  We  changed  our  mind  down  the  road  a  piece,  and 
thought  we'd  come  back  and  stay  the  night  out  with  you," 
Ed.  explained  to  the  woman  who  admitted  them  at  the  door. 
Early  the  next  morning  they  departed  for  good,  but  in  an 
opposite  direction  from  that  taken  by  them  as  a  blind  the 
night  before. 


CHAPTER  V. 
RUN  INTO  JOLIET. 

BAD   AND    BOLD. —  BLOOMINGTOX's    DISTINCTION.  —  PROS- 
PECTING.— A  NIGHT'S  ADVENTURE. — UP  IN  A 

HAY  MOW. — WORSTED   IN     THE     WOODS. — 

BAD       LUCK       PREDICTED. CAPTURE 

AND     CONVICTION.  —  LAWLESS 

LAURELS. — "  THE   LAST  OF 

THE   MAXWELLS." 

The  ease  with  which  they  had  heretofore  managed  to  elude 
the  over-reaching  grasp  of  the  law,  had  a  natural  tendency 
to  make  the  Maxwells  over-confident  as  to  their  personal 
prowess  in  particular.  Reckless  they  frequently  became,  to 
a  degree  barely  justified  on  any  grounds,  owing  to  the  odds 
always  against  the  outlaw.  On  the  heels  of  the  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  to  take  them  at  Colchester,  the  sheriffs  of  half 
a  dozen  different  counties  put  themselves  in  readiness  to  re- 
ceive the  fleet  fugitives  if  they  should  happen  to  pay  one  of 
their  respective  bailiwicks  the  honor  of  a  visit. 

On  leaving  McDonough  county,  the  Maxwell  brothers 
threaded  their  way  by  a  circuitous  route  in  the  direction  of 

(44) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  45 

Minnesota.  •  Before  quitting  Illinois  this  time  they  resolved 
on  having  some  further  sport. 

Among  the  towns  which  may  lay  claim  to  having  had  a 
share  in  the  nurture  of  these  striking  specimens  of  the  bud 
and  bloom  of  bravado,  was  Bloomington,  where  there  re- 
sided, also,  at  one  time  the  Coleman  family,  the  life-paths  of 
two  of  whose  most  promising  members  were,  years  after- 
ward, by  a  strange  and  sad  spinning  of  the  web  of  fate,  to 
arrest  for  a  moment  fatal  to  them  the  criminal  course  of  the 
two  desperadoes,  born  a  second  time  in  the  womb  of  in- 
iquity. 

Near  Bloomington  the  Maxwell  brothers  had  previously 
figured  a  little  in  the  role  of  house-breakers,  and  had  become 
acquainted  with  the  lay  of  the  land  well  enough  to  "  locate" 
a  promising  point  for  any  piece  of  deviltry  they  might  un- 
dertake. It  occurred  to  them  while  on  the  "  long  way 
around  "  which  they  had  taken  to  get  to  Minnesota,  that  it 
was  getting  to  be,  "  a  long  time "  not  "  between  drinks,'* 
but  since  they  had  swapped  horses  !  They  resolved,  there- 
fore, to  be  on  the  look-out  for  fresh  animals,  and  happening 
to  think  of  Bloomington,  at  the  same  time,  they  were  not 
slow  in  deciding  on  a  flank  movement  of  the  sort  for  which 
they  were  reputedly  famous.  Heading  their  horses  in  that 
direction,  a  day's  ride  brought  them  conveniently  near  the 
designated  point  of  plunder.  The  farmer  with  whom  they 
stopped  for  supper,  little  dreaming  of  the  revolvers  and 
knives  stuck  in  the  belts  underneath  their  buttoned-up  coats, 


46  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

and  of  the  true  character  of  his  guests,  afforded  them  some 
valuable  information  about  the  fine  stock  of  his  section.  He 
was  not  willing  that  his  neighbors  should  have  all  the  credit 
of  raising  and  owning  prize  cattle  and  horses,  but  expatiated 
eloquently  upon  his  personal  treasures  of  the  same  kind. 
Doubtless  he  had  an  eye  to  business,  as  well,  for  on  the 
strangers  making  themselves  known  as  prospective  settlers 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  he  insisted  on  showing  them 
what  he  possessed. 

The  Maxwells  were  particularly  interested  in  a  couple  of 
high-bred  colts,  the  offspring  of  a  fine  brood-mare  by  a  sire 
that  had  been  honored  previously  by  more  than  one  trotting 
record  of  2 140.  These  colts  had  lately  been  broken  to  the 
saddle,  so  the  farmer  said,  but  were  soon  to  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  a  jockey  for  the  trotting  course.  The  Maxwells 
had  seen  enough  to  determine  on  their  plans  for  that  night, 
and  on  returning  to  the  house  took  their  departure  at  once. 
They  rode  leisurely  along  for  several  miles,  when  they  be 
took  themselves  into  the  open  timber  handy,  and  tied  their 
horses  to  a  tree,  after  having  unbridled  them.  They  re- 
turned on  foot,  each  with  a  bridle  in  one  hand  and  a  revol- 
ver in  the  other.  Access  to  the  stalls  where  the  coveted 
colts  were  safely  housed,  however,  was  more  difficult  to 
gain  than  had  been  anticipated.  The  stable -door  was  im- 
pregnable against  a  noiseless  assault,  and  a  ladder  had  to  be 
procured  and  an  entrance  sought  through  the  door  of  the 
hay-loft  above.  The  latter  attempt  proving  successful,  the 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  47 

next  step  was  to  secure  the  colts  and  obtain  a  mode  of  egress 
from  the  stable.  The  colts  were  bridled  without  very 
much  trouble,  but  there  was  no  way  of  rinding  a  way  out 
for  them.  The  stable  had  two  doors  they  found,  but  these 
were  both  provided  with  superior  locks,  instead  of  being  se- 
cured with  the  ordinary  latch,  staple  and  padlock,  for  which 
only  they  had  come  prepared.  While  deliberating  on  what 
to  do  Ed.  heard  faint  footsteps  approaching  from  without, 
and  no  sooner  had  the  brothers  darted  under  cover  behind 
some  convenient  feed  barrels,  than  a  key  turned  in  the  lock 
of  the  smaller  door,  and  on  its  being  cautiously  opened,  the 
rustle  of  skirts  betrayed  the  presence  in  the  stable  of  a 
woman,  the  nature  of  whose  visit  at  that  unseemly  hour  was 
soon  made  apparent. 

Drawing  tfie  door  to,  but  not  locking  it  behind  her, 
she  groped  her  way  gradually  toward  the  steep  stair- 
steps leading  to  the  loft,  and  called  out  in  a  loud  whis- 
per, "Are  you  up  there,  Charley?'"  The  crouching 
Maxwells  held  their  breath,  and  on  no  answer  being  re- 
turned, the  female  party  to  an  assignation  in  the  hay-mow 
became  petulantly  convinced  that  she  was  alone. 

"  Of  course  he  ain't  here  yet.  He  never  is  on  time,"  she 
said,  in  an  impatient,  half-suppressed  tone  of  voice.  "  I 
might  as  well  go  on  up  and  wait  for  him.  He'll  find  me 
asleep  probably." 

So  saying,  she  begun  the  ascent  of  the  stairs,  and  in  anoth- 
er minute  she  was  heard  overhead  moving  about  in  the  hay. 


48  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

"  Let's  skip  out  of  here  before  '  Charlie*  comes,  unless 
you  want  to  lay  for  him,  while  I  go  up  above  and  tackle  the 
girl,"  whispered  Lon,  in  whose  mind  a  fast  horse  and  a 
fast  woman  were  two  things  hard  to  choose  between. 

"  We  aint  got  any  time  for  your  monkeying.  We've  got 
to  make  tracks  as  quick  as  we  can  or  we'll  get  ourselves  in- 
to trouble,"  replied  Ed.,  whose  authority  was  rarely  ever 
questioned. 

While  Lon  went  to  the  door  and  watched,  Ed.  proceeded 
to  make  sure  of  the  colts.  They  were  as  quiet  as  possible 
though  well  aware  that  it  would  take  a  pretty  big  fright  to 
cause  the  woman  in  the  hay  loft  to  give  herself  away  by 
raising  an  alarm.  They  were  balked  again,  however,  by 
the  appearance  of  "  Charley,"  whose  tardiness  they  would 
have  prolonged  indefinitely,  without  any  regard  for  the  out- 
raged feelings  of  his  forlorn  mistress,  awaiting  his  coming 
quite  in  a  hay-fever  of  impatience.  Lon  returned  to  his 
former  place  of  concealment,  and  Ed.  stood  still  at  the  head 
of  the  colt  he  was  caressing.  Charlie  pushed  open  the  door, 
turned  the  key  on  the  inside  after  closing  it  softly,  and  went 
straight  on  upstairs.  It  was  "  now  or  never,"  certainly,  and 
with  as  little  noise  as  possible  the  colts  were  led  out  of  the 
stable,  and  the  road  having  been  gained,  were  mounted  bare- 
back and  urged  on  at  a  fast  pace.  It  was  to  be  expected,  of 
course,  that  the  guilty  pair  in  the  hay-loft  were  made  aware 
of  the  mysterious  movements  underneath  them,  and  that  on 
discovering  the  great  loss  to  which  the  master  of  the  house 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  49 

had  been  subjected  through  their  criminal  carelessness,  ex- 
perienced a  chilly  change  from  their  previous  state  of  ama- 
tiveness  to  a  sense  of  sickening  fear.  The  woman  was  likely 
packed  off  to  her  proper  couch,  while  her  lover  bethought 
him  as  speedily  as  possible  of  some  way  to  rouse  up  the  male 
members  of  the  household  without  attaching  any  suspicion 
to  himself.  Whatever  plan  he  determined  on,  he  lost  little 
time  in  putting  it  into  execution,  and  within  half  an  hour  the 
farmer,  his  elder  son  and  two  field  hands  were  in  pursuit  of 
the  horse-thieves.  When  the  Maxwells  had  ridden  about 
as  far  as  where  they  thought  their  saddled  horses  would  be 
found,  they  turned  off  the  road,  and  dismounting,  led  the 
colts  through  the  timber.  The  young,  high-strung  ani- 
mals, unused  to  this  procedure,  became  exceeding!/  hard  to 
manage,  and  after  holding  on  to  them  a  much  longer  time 
than  less  experienced  persons  could  have  done  under  similar 
disadvantages,  their  captors  suddenly  found  themselves  the 
victims  of  a  forcible  desertion,  Lon  lying  sprawled  out  on 
the  ground,  and  Ed.  rubbing  his  eyes  at  seeing  the  stars  that 
fell  in  a  shower  consequent  upon  the  concussion  produced 
by  his  being  violently  hurled  against  the  body  of  a  tree 
There  was  no  help  for  it,  curse  as  roundly  as  they  might  at 
their  confounded  luck,  and  they  made  their  way  slowly  to- 
ward the  best  horses  they  were  just  then  able  to  command. 
Ed.  was  the  loudest  in  the  condemnation  of  their  folly, 
in  trying  to  lead  the  fiery  young  colts  through  the  woods, 
simply  to  secure  a  pair  of  common  horses  such  as  they  could 


50  Life  of  'Williams  Brothers. 

obtain  almost  anywhere  without  the  asking,  and  predicted 
a  change  in  their  hitherto  uninterrupted  streak  of  good 
luck.  Not  long  afterward,  Lon  had  occasion  to  refer  to  his 
brother's  words  in  the  woods  that  night  as  unconsciously 
prophetic.  Their  luck,  certainly,  seemed  to  have  changed 
from  that  time. 

The  farmer's  party   met   the   colts   coming  up   the  road 
towards  home,   at   an  easy  canter,  and  had  Ijttle  difficulty  in 
securing  them,  much  to  the  relief,  in  particular,  of  the  farmei 
and  the  amorous   couple   who  very  likely  found  thereaf 
another  mating-place  than  the  hay-mow.     The   Maxw 
remained  in  the  woods  an  hour's  time  to  satisfy  themselves 
that  the  pursuit  had   been  abandoned,   and   then   resumed 
their  journey,  which  they  pursued  in  an  uneventful  manner 
until  its  end  in  Minnesota  was  reached.   Bridles  were  bought 
the  next  day  at  a  way-side  store,  and   to  all   appearances   it 
didn't  improve  their  tempers  much  to  have  to  pay  for  any- 
thing, even  though  with  money  dishonestly  obtained. 

Arrived  in  Minnesota  again,  and  in  hard  lines  according 
to  their  notion,  the  Maxwells  took  somewhat  more  kindly 
than  their  wont  to  dissipation.  Drinking,  gambling  and  asso- 
ciating with  vile  women,  they  passed  several  weeks  of  time, 
which  officers  of  the  law  were  quietly  making  the  most  of. 
A  deputy  sheriff  of  McDonough  county  had  been  sent  to 
the  part  of  Minnesota  where  the  desperadoes  were  reported 
to  be  stopping  for  awhile.  On  his  arrival  at  the  town  near 
where  they  were  last  heard  from,  he  was  given  the  assist- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  51 

ance  of  officers  who  volunteered  to  assist  at  making  an  arrest 
so  often  attempted  in  vain. 

Accounts  of  the  capture  of  the  Maxwell  brothers  are  con- 
flicting. One  report,  published  in  an  Illinois  paper,  states 
that  "the  outlaws  were  overpowered  by  the  numerical 
odds  against  them.  Encountered  and  surrounded  in  a  saloon 
by  half-a-dozen  officers,  as  well  armed  and  as  determined  as 
themselves,  they  surrendered  at  discretion." 

The  more  accurate,  or  else  imaginative  correspondent  of 
a  St.  Louis  paper  furnished  the  following  graphic  descrip- 
tion of  the  event: 

"  The  services  of  a  detective — indispensable  in  cases  of 
emergency  it  must  be  admitted — were  secured,  and  the 
Maxwells  were  shadowed  completely.  One  night,  at  a 
late  hour,  the  waiting  officers  were  apprized  by  the  detec- 
tive to  hold  themselves  in  readiness.  It  was  explained  by 
their  "  silent  partner"  that  the  Maxwell  boys  were  in  a  cer- 
tain house  of  ill-repute,  beastly  intoxicated.  They  were 
with  a  party  consisting  of  six  women  and  two  men  besides 
themselves,  and  with  an  utter  disregard  for  consequences 
were  enjoying  themselves  in  an  uproarious  fashion.  The 
officers  were  stationed  near  the  house,  and  the  detective 
went  inside  to  await  developments.  An  hour  passed,  by 
which  time  the  two  other  men  in  the  room  where  the  de- 
bauch was  being  carried  on,  had  staggered  off,  each  in  com- 
pany with  one  of  the  women.  The  Maxwells  had  grown 
maudlin  and  were  oblivious  of  everything  except  their  more 

4 


52  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

immediate  surroundings.  The  four  remaining  women  were 
rapidly  passing  from  the  noisy  to  the  sleepy  stage  of  drunk- 
enness. 

"The  time  had  come  to  act.  The  officers  were  sum- 
moned, and  were  no  little  relieved  at  rinding  the  job  of  dis- 
arming and  hand-cuffing  the  celebrated  Maxwell  brothers 
an  easier  one  than  they  had  expected.  Of  course  liquor 
had  the  most  to  do  with  affecting  their  capture  so  satisfac- 
torily, for  both  brothers  were  stupefied  with  drink,  and 
would  have  been  unable  to  hold  *  their  end '  up,  even  if 
not  as  completely  taken  by  surprise,  as  they  were  in  this 
case. " 

The  noted  prisoners  were  jailed  to  await  a  requisition 
from  Springfield.  Before  that  highly  important  document 
came  to  hand,  Ed.  broke  jail,  by  prying  out  a  couple  of 
bars  in  his  window,  and  climbing  out,  wristlets  and  all.  His 
flight  was  soon  discovered  and  he  was  retaken  before  he 
had  enjoyed  his  freedom  long  enough  to  obtain  the  full  use 
of  his  hands. 

Taken  back  to  McDonough  county,  the  Maxwell 
brothers  were  tried  separately  for  horse-stealing,  on  a  charge 
the  most  easily  "  proven  up"  at  the  time.  Ed.  was  given 
five  years,  and  Lon  but  three. 

The  prosecuting  attorney,  Mr.  W.  H.  Neese,  was  not 
disposed  to  show  any  greater  leniency  towards  Lon  than 
with  Ed.,  and  did  his  best  to  have  Lon's  time  fixed  at  five 
years  at  least.  Lon  registered  a  mental  vow  to  be  even 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  53 

with  the  lawyer  on  this  score,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen, 
further  on  in  this  history,  whether  he  remembered  and  how 
well  he  kept  his  word  with  himself. 

The  belief  exists  in  the  minds  of  many  that  the  Maxwell 
brothers  whose  fortunes  we  have  followed  and  the  brothers 
of  that  name  who  are  said  to  have  served  in  several  cam- 
paigns of  the  James  and  Younger  brothers,  are  the  same 
parties.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  informed  among 
authorities  that  this  identity  is  far  from  being  complete.  The 
single  fact  going  to  establish  an  identity,  which,  did  it  exist, 
ought  to  be  more  easily  apparent,  is  that  both  pairs  of  men 
have  shed  a  luminous  lustre  of  its  kind  upon  the  same  family 
name.  So  far  as  reputation  goes,  at  any  rate,  Ed.  and  Lon 
Maxwell  have  nothing  particularly  to  gain  from  any  noto- 
riety this  alleged  identification  might  add  to  their  laurels  of 
lawlessness. 

The  removal  of  the  Maxwells  to  Joliet  took  place  in  the 
Spring  of  1876.  Their  disappearance  behind  the  walls  of 
the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary  marked  the  finale  of  the 
criminal  career  of  the  "  Maxwell  brothers,"  who  doffed  a 
family  name  for  which  they  had  no  further  use,  on  the  divesti- 
ture of  their  striped  suits,  on  being  set  at  liberty  at  the  end 
of  their  respective  terms. 


CHAPTER   VI. 
REFORMATION. 

PREFATORY. — LON    WILLIAMS,  OF  WISCONSIN. — THE  LIFE 

OF  A   LUMBERER. — THE   INTEMPERANCE   PROBLEM, 

AND    KNAPP,    STOUT    A    CO. — LON's    HAZARD 

IN    DRINKING. — A    BETTER    LIFE. — 

HEART  HUNGER. 

Penitentiary  penitence  has  been  likened  to  the  total  ab- 
stinence pledge  of  the  fellow  whose  last  night's  spree  has 
soured  on  his  stomach  and  who  stands  ready  the  next  morn- 
ing to  "swear  off"  without  any  reservation  whatever  as  to 
the  "once  more  time"  that  "  a  true  gentleman"  never  thinks 
of  counting.  To  make  use  of  a  hackneyed  expression  there 
is  probably  more  truth  than  poetry  about  the  above,  yet 
there  certainly  appeared  in  the  case  of  the  younger  of  two 
brothers  incarcerated  at  Joliet  during  our  Nation's  centen- 
nial year,  fairly  hopeful  signs  of  a  reformation.  Without 
having  much  conversation  with  any  one  on  the  subject,  and 
but  rarely  ever,  it  is  likely,  holding  an  introspective  inter- 
view with  himself,  the  young  man  nevertheless  profited  by 
many  a  practical  reflection  on  the  evident  error  and  real  mis- 
fortune of  his  former  ways. 

(54) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  55 

His  resolve  to  reform  may  have  been  brought  in  great 
measure  by  his  self-acknowledgment  that  as  a  freebooter 
he  had  been  u  failure,  from  thr  principal  point  of  a  view  in 
which  he  had  been  taught  by  a  brother  to  look  at  life.  He 
may  have  passed  three  years  in  prison  without  feeling  once 
at  his  heart  an  emotion  which  some  one  has  described  in 
verse  as  being  in  memoriam  of  a  mother's  voice  in  days  of 
childhood.  His  moral  nature  may  have  been  so  blunted  by 
a  few  years  of  crime  as  a  following,  that  he  was  rendered 
insensible  of  any  inner-consciousness  of  wrong  doing,  and 
deaf  to  all  inward  appeals  to  turn  to  the  right  for  the  right's 
sake.  This  may  be  all  so,  and  still  the  fact  remains,  that 
the  seed  of  a  reformation  had  been  sown  in  this  younger 
brother's  breast.  We  shall  see  how  it  took  root  there,  and 
that  it  thrived  and  gave  promise  of  a  healthy  development 
and  permanent  growth — and  how  the  fair  flower  hope  had 
tended  so  carefully  was  withered  by  the  blight  of  the  con- 
taminating touch  of  an  evil  hand. 


In  the  fall  of  1879  a  young  man  of  about  twenty-three, 
who  gave  his  name  as  Alonzo  Williams,  appeared  at  Her- 
sey,  St.  Croix  county,  Wisconsin.  From  previously  formed 
impressions  of  the  lumber  district,  the  new-comer  had  several 
years  before,  so  it  setems,  contemplated  the  possibility  of  his 
taking  up  his  residence  there  with  feelings  of  much  inward 
relief  and  secret  satisfaction.  Accustomed  as  he  had  been 
to  assimilate  himself  to  conditions  and  surroundings  as  he 


56  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

found  them,  Alonzo  Williams — «  Lon"  he  soon  came  to  be 
called  by  his  familiars — was  not  long  in  drifting  into  the  life 
and  falling  into  the  ways  of  the  mill  hand  in  summer  and 
the  wood  chopper  in  winter.  He  was  as  full  naturally  of 
animal  spirits  as  an  egg  is  of  meat,  and  on  becoming 
acquainted  thoroughly  both  with  others  and  with  his  own 
new  self  in  the  fresh  existence  he  had  entered  upon,  it  is  not 
at  all  surprising  that  his  inner  nature  should  have  strangely 
warmed  and  rapidly  expanded  under  the  benign  influences 
around  and  upon  him.  The  boys,  generally,  grew  to  esteem 
Lon  Williams  as  one  of  the  best  of  companions,  whether  in 
the  mills,  when  in  town,  or  in  the  camps  when  the  rigors  of 
a  Wisconsin  winter  are  laughed  to  scorn  by  hardy  wood- 
men at  whose  hands  the  grand  old  forests  are  despoiled 
ruthlessly  of  their  kingliest  specimens. 

Like  every  other  labor  class  in  this  country,  the  lumber- 
ers of  the  Northwest  furnish  their  proportionate  quota  of 
hard  drinkers,  and  generally  speaking  are  addicted  to  the 
habit  of  tippling  neither  more  nor  less  than  any  other  body 
of  workingmen  wherever  found  and  at  whatever  employed. 
There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  to  this  common  rule,  in  the 
lumber  country  as  elsewhere.  There  is  no  question  but 
that  the  employers  of  a  large  number  of  laboring  people 
can,  if  they  will,  exercise  a  great  influence  for  good  in  this 
direction  on  the  part  of  their  employes.  Drunkenness  and 
drinking  can  be  made  to  be  odious  on  more  than  one  account, 
by  the  adoption  of  a  policy  and  the  enforcement  of  a  princi- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  57 

pie,  that  will  not  countenance  in  the  least  wrong  conduct  of 
this  sort.  A  notable  instance  of  the  successful  treatment  of 
the  intemperance  problem,  is  afforded  in  the  case  of  the 
Knapp,  Stout  &  Co.  Company,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  liberal  lumber  and  mercantile  corporations  in  the  entire 
Northwest.  The  employes  of  this  company  are  among 
the  best  citizens  of  the  various  towns  they  inhabit,  and  it  is  a 
very  rare  occurjence  for  one  out  of  a  hundred  of  their  number 
to  be  guilty  of  the  "  breach  of  contract,"  which  "  drunk- 
enness or  the  introduction  of  intoxicating  liquor  on  the 
premises"  is  considered  to  be  and  so  stipulated  in  express 
language. 

At  Hersey  and  Knapp,  the  two  towns  where  Lon  Wil- 
liams chiefly  resided  during  the  interim  of  peacefulness  and 
hopefulness  between  his  two  checkered  careers,  there  was 
considerable  spreeing  done  by  the  younger  men,  after  hours 
during  the  week  and  on  Sundays.  In  company  by  no  means 
considered  as  bad  or  vicious,  L.ott  occasionally  drank  rather 
freely,  but  abstained  from  carrying  a  frolic  of  this  kind  to 
the  excess  his  companions  would  often  reach  after  he  had 
left  them.  Getting  drunk  for  the  alleged  fun  of  the  thing 
was  something  he  had  lost  all  desire  for,  and  it  was  more 
for  the  sake  of  conviviality  that  he  tasted  of  liquor  at  all. 
Herein  Lon  Williams  made  the  mistake  of  so  many,  better 
reared  and  higher  gifted,  far,  than  he.  The  old  enemy  can 
never  be  trusted,  and  it  is  treason  to  one's  self  to  harbor  it 
for  an  instant,  no  matter  in  which  of  the  many  guises,  as- 


58  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

sumed  for  occasions,  it  may  knock  for  an  admittance.  Re. 
instated,  the  fiend  incarnate  of  the  "bottomless  cup"  which 
the  inebriate  quaffs  in  vain  to  quench  a  burning  thirst,  will 
wreak  a  greater  ruin  than  escaped  before.  "  Lay  not  that 
flattering  unction  to  your  soul,"  ye,  who  would  institute  a 
reform  half  way,  that  human  will  is  able  to  give  odds  in  a 
contest  of  this  character  to  human  weakness. 

The  danger  Lon  ran  in  drinking  was  not  that  ordinary 
one  of  becoming  a  u  frightful  example  "  for  some  temper- 
ance  lecturer.  He  was  hardly  "  cut  out "  for  an  occupation 
of  that  half  pitiable  and  half  despicable  description.  The 
risk  he  took  in  yielding  to  the  influence  of  liquor  was  of 
having  his  mind  and  soul  tampered  Tvith>  when  in  that  con- 
dition, by  another  person,  bent  on  accomplishing  his  satanic 
purpose  at  whatever  cost  and  for  the  sake  solely  of  sin's  sat- 
isfaction. So  long,  let  it  be  understood,  as  he  was  left  free 
to  follow  out  his  own  inclinations,  whether  good,  bad  or  in- 
different, Lon's  hazard,  even  on  repeated  intoxication,  could 
not  be  called  his  jeopardy. 

For  the  company  of  abandoned  and  vile  women,  Lon  ex- 
hibited  hardly  a  trace  of  any  former  liking.  It  was  true  of 
him,  but  only  so  far  as  it  is  true  of  the  large  majority  of  un- 
married men  and  too  many  bland  Benedicts,  that  he  did, 
more  or  less  frequently,  resort  to  the  companionship  of  frail 
and  fallen  persons  of  the  opposite  sex,  but  he  was  known  to 
be  averse  to  indulging  in  disgusting  indecencies  of  a  semi- 
public  nature  which  commonly  are  part  and  parcel  of  aa 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  59 

"evening  out's"  fund  of  entertainment  for  men — men  who 
are  often  pillars  in  the  flimsy  fabric  of  society  and  the  church, 
that  see  in  the  social  evil,  woman's  degradation,  but  are 
blind  beyond. 

"  Come  on,  Lon.  We're  out  for  sport, "  was  an  invita- 
tion he  accepted  mostly  to  please  some  friend.  His  repug- 
nance, at  times  seemingly  greater  than  at  others,  as  if  due 
to  an  inward  resolve  to  do  and  be  better,  to  wanton  dissipa- 
tion, not  infrequently  subjected  him  to  good-humored  chaff- 
ing by  an  intimate.  Said  one  of  his  confidental  associates 
to  him  one  day: 

"  Why,  Lon,  the  first  thing  we  know  you'll  be  getting 
tiecl  to  some  woman  for  life. " 

"  Maybe  that's  what  I  need  more  than  anything  else,"  re- 
plied Lon  with  a  half  perceptible  sigh,  continuing  as  fol- 
lows: "And  if  I  do  ever  marry  the  right  sort  of  a  girl,  I'll 
behave  myself. " 

"  It  wouldn't  trouble  you  much  to  settle  down,  seeing 
that  you  aint  much  of  a  hand  now  to  run  around  with  the 
boys." 

"  If  you  had  known  me  once — a  good  many  years  ago 
it  seems  like — you  wouldn't  have  had  such  a  good  opinion 
of  me  perhaps, "  said  Lon. 

"When  was  that?"  asked  his  companion. 

"  Oh,  never  mind,  But  I  tell  you,  old  fellow,  that  I 
never  felt  so  much  like  getting  along  the  way  every  man 
ought  to,  as  I  do  right  now. " 


60  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

Who  can  doubt  but  that  he  spoke  the  truth? — a  truth 
not  less  eloquent  upon  his  lips  than  in  the  grandiloquent 
utterance  of  speech  set  in  more  polished  phrase.  His 
words  proceeded  from  a  heart  as  yet  hardly  conscious 
of  its  own  hunger. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
LOVE'S  YOUNG  DREAM. 

IN  GOOD   SOCIETY. — REFINING    INFLUENCES    OF    FEMALE 

LOVELINESS  AND  VIRTUE. — A  NEW  YEARS  EVE 

PARTY. — FANNY  HUSSEY  MET. — AT  LOVE'S 

CONFESSIONAL. — CUPID  CONDUCTS 

A  COURTSHIP. 

The  main  portion  of  the  winter  of  *79-'8o  was  spent  by 
Lon  in  and  around  Hersey  and  Knapp.  In  common  with 
his  associates,  as  a  means  of  pleasant  relaxation,  he  attended 
the  various  neighborhood  dances,  so  popular  in  these  parts, 
and  none  more  than  he  enjoyed  the  innocent  diversion  thus 
afforded. 

The  companionship  of  virtuous  young  women,  upon  whose 
cheeks  the  glow  of  health  was  painted,  and  with  whose 
buxomness  of  figure  and  of  manner,  there  was  an  absence 
of  all  affectation,  was  to  Lon  a  source  of  pure  delight. 

It  does  not  make  a  male  person  of  the  right  stamp  one 

whit  less  manly  to  be  a  trifle  fonder  of  female  society  of  an 

(61) 


62  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

elevating  character  than  of  himself,  or  of  some  personal 
pastime  or  pursuit  of  happiness  in  another  direction. 

At  these  assemblages  of  the  young  people,  Lon  moved 
in  an  element  admirably  calculated  to  develop  both  a  pure 
sentiment  and  a  moral  strength  within  his  breast.  He 
breathed  a  pure  moral  atmosphere,  and  was  the  better,  more 
hopeful  and  more  contented  man  for  it. 

A  ball  was  given  at  Knapp  on  New  Year's  Eve.,  and 
among  the  lightest  hearted  of  those  in  attendence  to  dance 
the  old  year  out  and  A.  D.  1880  in,  was  Lon  Williams.  Lit- 
tle did  he  dream,  however,  as  he  adjusted  for  the  last  time 
with  great  care  his  cravat,  and  put  the  finishing  touch  to  his 
simple  toilet  just  before  starting  for  the  gay  scene  of  mirth, 
of  the  great  New  Year's  gift  which  that  night  had  in  store 
for  him. 

There  had  assembled  early  a  bright  array  of  sweetly 
smiling  female  faces,  opposed  demurely  to  huddled  groups 
of  young  men,  a  bit  bashful  and  a  trifle  awkward,  perhaps, 
at  first,  but  "  the  ice  of  ceremony  being  once  broken,"  the 
evening's  festivities  were  speedily  under  full  head  way.  On 
Lon's  arrival  the  second  dance  had  been  reached  and  he 
plunged  at  once  into  the  pleasure  before  him. 

Of  the  fairest-featured  of  the  girls  of  Knapp,  in  form 
rounded  out  to  symmetrical  curves,  in  style  inviting  and  in 
speech  engaging,  was  counted  to  be  by  common  concurrence, 
Fanny  Hussey,  the  sunshine  of  whose  presence  had  been 
lent  to  this  occasion.  To  Lon  Williams,  who  had  only  seen 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  63 

her  casually  a  time  or  two  on  the  street  before,  she  was  daz- 
zling at  the  short  distance  at  which  he  was  now  permitted 
to  behold  her. 

Approaching  nearer  to  obtain  the  introduction  he  had 
craved,  he  stood  "  puzzled  with  mazes"  and  all  on  fire  with- 
in from  the  electric  flash  of  love-light  that  followed  the  ar- 
row Cupid  sent  straight  into  a  quivering  heart.  He  hardly 
heard  and  "  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  question  "  would 
have  been,  had  he  been  asked  what  words  they  were  that 
suffered  him  to  take  the  hand  of  her  whose  heart  his  own 
in  love  desired  from  that  first  moment  of  ecstatic  revelation 
and  resolve. 

The  homely  bit  of  conversation  attendant  upon  what 
very  soon  afterward  proved  to  have  been  an  interchange 
of  wild  love  and  wilder  hope,  was  so  very  commonplace 
that  it  would  have  been  indeed  strange  had  the  newly -made 
lovers  "  stooped  to  conquer  "  it. 

"Miss  Fanny,  this  is  Lon  Williams." 

That  was  all  there  was  said  of  it. 

Lon  bowed  very  low,  by  a  mechanical  effort,  but  as  ft 
machine  cannot  be  made  to  talk,  he  said  not  a  word. 

Miss  Fanny  smiled  sweetly,  looked,  and  blushed  a  deeper 
red  at  the  crimsoned  cheeks  and  tell-tale  air  and  attitude  of 
him  who  stood  in  silence,  a  suppliant  at  love's  confessional ; 
then  she  experienced  the  same  sensations  which  had  in  a 
manner  quite  overwhelmed  poor  Lon,  and  upon  moving 
her  lips  as  if  to  articulate,  said — nothing ! 


64  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

In  the  meantime,  having  performed  his  duty  by  his  friend, 
Lon's  benefactor  had  quietly  withdrawn. 

A  few  moments  of  a  golden  silence  that  spoke  volumes, 
sufficed  to  recall  the  lovers  to  a  consciousness  of  present 
time  and  place,  and  on  Lon's  finding  the  language  in  which 
to  frame  an  invitation  to  join  in  the  next  dance,  Fanny 
found  the  words  for  an  acceptance  in  reply. 

Time  fairly  flew  with  them.  Lon,  selfish  but  happy 
fellow,  put  in  his  first  claims  on  the  affections  and  attentions 
of  his  lady-love  by  coolly  proceeding  to  monopolize  her 
society  for  the  entire  evening,  and  Fanny,  selfish  from 
sympathy  and  quite  as  happy,  gave  up  all  her  dances  and 
every  intermission  to  him  with  whom  she  shared  equally 
every  fleeting  moment  of  their  time  together. 

The  infatuation  of  a  couple  so  thoroughly  absorbed  by 
and  absorbing  each  other,  could  not  escape  being  noticed, 
but  the  laughing  banter  at  their  expense  was  mingled  with 
many  an  honest  compliment  bestowed  upon  her  beauty 
and  lovable  character  and  upon  his  handsome  face  and 
manly  bearing. 

As  the  evening  lengthened,  mutual  confidences  were  ex- 
changed at  every  opportunity,  and  a  troth  being  plighted 
that  admitted  of  no  delay,  an  engagement  to  be  married  the 
very  next  (New  Year's)  day,  was  made  before  midnight. 

On  the  new  year's  being  ushered  in  with  a  lively  reel,  the 
party  broke  up,  and  sweethearts  were  taken  home  under 
the  starry  canopy  of  heaven,  and  made  love  to  with  a 


Life  oj   Williams  Brothers.  65 

warmth  so  sweet  as  to  neutralize  the  bitter  in  the  cold 
night-air. 

Repeating  for  the  last  time  their  good-night  kiss,  Lon 
and  Fanny  parted  with  love-like  reluctance,  for  the  night 
their  first  together  and  their  last  apart  before  being  mated 
in  marriage.  Each  retired  to  rest  in  the  company  of  fond 
thoughts  that  took  them  together  from  the  arms  of  Mor- 
pheus on  a  pleasant  journey  adown  the  flower-edged  paths 
of  dreamland. 

Thus  it  was  Lon  Williams  wooed,  and  thus  was  Fanny 
Hussey  won — theirs  a  courtship  that  had  been  conducted  by 
Cupid  in  person,  whose  magic  wand  had  never  been  moved 
with  celerity  more  charming  before,  by  the  record  kept 
above  of  pages  printed  and  unwritten  of  the  romance  of 
love's  young  dream. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MARRIED  AND  DOING  WELL. 

A   READY   CONSENT. — AT   HYMEN'S    ALTAR. — "A    HAPPY 

NEW  YEAR." CONNUBIAL    BLISS. — HOUSEKEEPING 

AND    HAPPINESS. — AN     ACCIDENT. — IDLE- 
NESS.— A   TOUCHING   EPISODE. 

The  hour  appointed  for  the  wedding  was  12  o'clock,  noon. 
They  were  to  meet  an  hour  or  two  earlier  at  the  residence 
of  Fanny's  mother,  where  Lon  was  to  attend  as  became  an 
obedient  lover  to  the  formality  of  requesting  a  hand  which 
no  power  on  earth  could  have  easily  prevented  his  taking  as 
he  desired.  Miss  Hussey's  mother  was  the  wife  of  William 
Thompson,  whom  she  had  married  not  long  after  laying 
aside  the  widow's  weeds  worn  for  Fanny's  deceased  father. 
Mrs.  Thompson  had  her  consent  all  ready  for  her  future 
son-in-law,  ere  he  called  for  it,  having  been  just  previously 
made  acquainted  with  the  interesting  affair  by  her  daughter, 
whose  wishes  she  wisely  refrained  from  thwarting  one  trifle, 
in  a  matter  of  such  chief  concern  to  Fanny's  own  happiness 

and  welfare. 

(66) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  67 

The  services  of  Elder  Donner,  of  the  Methodist  church, 
an  old-time  acquaintance  of  the  Thompsons,  and  one  of 
those  who  had  watched  Lon  Williams'  career  since  coming 
to  St.  Croix  county  with  feelings  of  the  greatest  interest 
and  heartiest  gratification,  were  readily  secured,  he  being  in 
town  at  the  time. 

The  marriage  ceremony  was  performed  promptly  at  the 
hour  of  noon.  The  simple  but  expressive  and  sincere  words 
being  said  that  made  them  man  and  wife,  Lon  and  Fanny 
Williams,  thus  united,  under  Hymen's  altar,  standing  in  the 
sunlight  showered  down  upon  them  by  the  smiling  God  of 
Marriage,  made  a  picture  for  a  painter,  and  to  a  poet  would 
have  lent  an  inspiration.  Heart  to  heart,  and  soul  to  soul—- 
the old,  sweet  story,  coupled  thus : 

"  Two  souls  with  but  a  single  thought, 
Two  hearts  that  beat  as  one." 

A  New  Year's  dinner  worthy  the  undivided  attention  of 
all  others  beside  the  bride  and  groom  in  whose  honor  it  was 
prepared,  was  partaken  of  next  at  Mrs.  Thompson's,  the 
afternoon  brought  calls  and  congratulations  from  as  many 
friends  and  neighbors  as  had  been  let  into  or  themselves 
found  out  the  sweet  secret. 

The  happy  couple  were  cosily  installed  in  a  cheerful  room 
in  the  house  occupied  by  the  Thompsons,  with  whom  they 
lived  for  several  months  prior  to  the  departure  of  the  latter 
for  Arkansaw,  a  small  town  in  Pepin  county.  Lon  and 

Fanny  began  their  married  life  under  the  brightest  of  aus- 
5 


68  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

pices.  All  accounts  agree  that  the  devotion  of  this  young 
married  and  mated  pair  was  exhibited  to  an  unusual  degree 
on  every  occasion  of  their  appearance  together  in  public  and 
exceedingly  demonstrative  in  their  own  home. 

Lon  remained  at  work  and  was  regarded  at  this  period  to 
be  as  steady  and  industrious  as  one  would  wish  to  see  a 
young  man.  He  found  amusement  always  in  the  good  com- 
pany of  his  wife,  with  whom  he  attended  dances  and  even- 
ing entertainments.  It  was  observed  that  his  attentions  to 
Fanny  on  these  occasions  were  as  many  and  marked  as  are 
only  looked  for  by  society  in  a  lover  before  marriage.  Lon 
was  a  lover  ever  after,  and  unlike  most  men,  he  never  tired 
of  his  wife's  company,  or  left  it  for  that  of  another  among 
women,  to  whose  charms  he  was  henceforth  decently  in- 
different. 

When  the  Thompsons  removed  to  Arkansaw,  Lon  Wil- 
liams rented  the  house  they  vacated  and  his  wife  proved  to 
be  an  excellent  housekeeper.  They  had  comparativelyx lit- 
tle of  this  world's  goods,  yet  were  well-to-do  in  that  which 
constitutes  contentment,  the  most  substantial  of  all  happi- 
ness. 

In  the  natural  course  of  time,  the  young  wife  became 
enceinte,  and  a  happier  fellow  than  Lon  it  would  have  been 
hard  to  find.  The  thoughts  and  hopes  of  paternity  thus 
kindled  within  him  gave  his  mind  and  heart  that  to  feed 
upon  which  is  calculated  to  develop  the  higher  stages  of 
manhood's  self-enfranchisement  from  the  slavery  of  sins  ot 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  69 

the  flesh.  At  parties  they  attended,  when  his  wife  was 
compelled  to  abstain  from  dancing  much,  and  was  forbidden 
by  Nature's  law,  more  particularly,  to  indulge  in  the  waltz, 
polka  and  other  round  dances,  Lon  would  wait  upon  her 
every  want  and  remain  constantly  at  her  side. 

During  the  next  winter  after  their  marriage,  Lon  had  the 
misfortune  to  cut  his  right  foot  while  out  chopping  wood, 
and  on  account  of  this  accident  was  left  without  employ- 
ment until  spring.  Through  inattention  or  carelessness  the 
wound  became  worse,  and  after  it  had  caused  him  no  little 
pain  and  annoyance,  an  amputation  of  the  large  toe  was 
performed  from  necessity. 

Idleness  is  noted  by  the  Church  of  Rome  as  the  seventh 
sin  among  the  deadly  or  mortal  ones  to  which  flesh  is  heir 
to  according  to  the  creed  of  a  Christian.  Proverbially  among 
all  people,  it  is  one  of  the  roots  of  evil.  The  condition  or 
quality  of  being  idle  remains  to  be  taken,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  in  any  of  the  various  senses  of  that  word ;  there  be- 
ing, for  instance,  an  enforced  idleness  such  as  Lon's  was  on- 
first  being  laid  up  with  his  sore  foot;  to  which  the  animad- 
version of  the  papal  church  and  of  people  in  general  is  not 
intended  to  apply. 

There  was  some  danger,  nevertheless,  for  one  of  Lon's 
temperament  in  his  position.  He  could  illy  brook  the  re- 
straint upon  his  physical  liberty,  and  the  loss  of  time  and 
money  which  he  felt  the  less  able  to  afford  in  view  of  the 
prospective  "  increase  of  his  house "  on  the  approaching 


70  Life  of  'Williams  Brothers. 

accouchement  of  his  wife.  He  grew  to  be  exceeding  restive, 
and  a  bit  blue  and  down-hearted  at  times.  He  used  to  tell 
his  wife  that  he  was  both  ashamed  and  afraid  to  stay  idle  so 
long. 

"  Fanny,  this  will  never  do  for  me.  I've  got  you  to  look 
after  as  well  as  myself,  and  it  won't  be  long  before — 

Here  he  hesitated,  his  voice  taking  a  tender  tone,  and  his 
manner  becoming  abashed  all  in  a  moment. 

"  Yes,  Lonnie  dear,  I  know  what  you  mean.  But  don't 
get  to  feeling  bad,  and  everything  will  come  out  all  right." 

Advancing  to  her,  Lon  clasped  his  arms  lovingly  about 
his  wife,  and  drawing  her  gently  within  a  close  embrace, 
whispered : 

"  God  bless  my  darling !  She  must  help  me  keep  my 
spirits  up  and  be  a  man. " 


CHAPTER   IX. 

AN  EVIL  GENIUS  REAPPEARS. 

A  HARD  WINTER. — THE  BLUES. — A  MYSTERIOUS  WHISTLE. 
THE  OLD  "CALL"  TO  LON. — THE  BROTHERS'  MEET- 
ING.— EDWARD  WILLIAMS. — THE  CHANGE 
IN  LON. — A   GRIEVING  WIFE. 

The  winter  of  1880-81  will  long  be  remembered  as  one 
of  exceptional  severity  throughout  the  country.  Between 
the  time  of  Winter's  actual  departure  and  that  of  Summer's 
arrival  on  the  calendar,  there  was  scarcely  enough  seen  of 
Spring  to  give  the  usual  amount  of  "  inspired  ""employment 
to  the  languishing  poets  and  poetesses  of  rural  America. 

Lon  Williams,  being  idle,  naturally  saw  the  darker  side 
of  things,  and  brooded  a  good  deal  over  the  extra  expense 
of  living  incurred  in  many  ways  on  account  of  the  pro- 
tracted spell  of  cold  weather  on  into  the  spring  months. 
Then,  again,  there  would  be  times  when  he  would  cheer  up 
as  bidden  by  his  sunny-haired  and  sunnier  dispositioned  help- 
meet, and  his  laugh  would  ring  out  as  clear  as  a  bell  at  some 
jest  they  were  enjoying  in  common.  It  was  one  night  in 


72  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

the  fore  part  of  what  should  have  been  in  fact  Spring,  while 
they  were  seated  around  a  blazing  fire,  with  whose  warmth 
and  light  their  spirits  were  in  sympathy,  that  Lon  experien- 
ced, on  a  sudden,  sickening  sensations  attributable  to  Fear 
and  Doubt,  the  hand-maidens  of  Despair. 

"  What  is  that,  Lon?  "  asked  Fanny,  straining  her  ear  to 
catch  a  possible  repetition  of  something  that  had  sounded 
above  the  wail  of  the  night  wind  like  a  shrill  whistle. 

Again  it  sounded,  clearer  and  more  distinct,  during  a  pause 
by  the  sighing  breeze  as  if  for  breath — a  long,  loud  whistle, 
plain  enough  in  her  ears  and  in  Lon's  heart,  piercing  the 
latter  as  with  a  sharp  steel  instrument. 

Another  whistle,  long  and  loud  as  before,  followed  by 
two  short,  sharp  signals  of  the  same  sort — the  signs  a  hu- 
man call-bird  gave  of  his  presence  and  purpose. 

"Do  you  hear,  Lon?  "  said  Fanny,  breaking  the  silence 
that  had  followed  her  first  unanswered  question. 

"  Yes,  I  hear,  Fanny — my  God,  only  too  well!"  and  Lon 
aroused  himself  by  an  effort  and  left  his  seat. 

"  Where  are  you  going  Lonnie — what  is  the  matter?" 
anxiously  asked  the  young  wife,  greatly  disturbed  by  what 
she  was  at  a  loss  to  understand. 

"I'll  tell  you  all  about  it, Fanny, when  I  comeback.  Per- 
haps I'm  mistaken,  but  I  must  go  outside  and  see.  Help 
me  on  with  this  overcoat,  Fan,  and  don't  be  frightened." 

Submitting  to  a  few  fond  caresses,  and  promising  to  be 
back  soon,  Lon  bade  his  wife  not  to  be  uneasy  and  to  lemam 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  73 

where  she  was,  and  then  opening  the  door  went  out 
into  the  darkness  whence  the  strange  signals  had  pro- 
ceeded. 

Lon  had  recognized  the  notes  of  a  call  familiar  to  him  in 
a  dead  past  that  it  seemed  to  have  resurrected  in  a  second 
from  a  ghastly  grave. 

On  leaving  the  house,  Lon  walked  as  rapidly  as  his  lamed 
foot  made  comfortable  in  a  moccasin  would  permit,  toward 
where  a  man  stood,  tapping  his  feet  on  the  ground  to  keep 
them  warm,  within  a  few  rods  of  the  house. 

"  You  wasn't  in  a  hurry  at  all.  I'd  just  started  to  draw 
up  a  little  nearer  and  see  if  I  could  get  a  peep  inside  o'  your 
snug  nest.  It's  a  cold  night  this,  and  I've  done  some  trav- 
eling on  foot  since  morning." 

"  And  so  you've  come  back  to  life,  have  you,  Ed?"  said 
Lon,  taking,  almost  reluctantly,  as  it  seemed,  his  brother's 
proffered  hand. 

"  Well,  I  should  remark,  and  a  few  months  in  advance  of 
my  time,  owing  to  my  *  good  behavior'  they  said.     I  found 
out  my  new  name   this  morning  over   at    Knapp.     '  Wil- 
liams,' I  believe?" 
.     '•  That's  my  name,"  said  Lon,  rather  hesitatingly. 

"  Yes,  and  seeing  as  how  it  has  done  you  so  much  good, 
why,  if  it's  all  the  same  to  you,  I'll  just  go  in  partnership 
with  you,  like  the  brothers  we  used  to  be." 

"  No,  Ed.,  not  the  old  way.  You  can  take  my  name  if 
you  like,  and  I'll  not  disown  you  for  a  brother  as  long  as 


74  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

I've  got  a  home  of  my  own,  but  there  musn't  be  any  more 
devilment." 

"  Oh,  I  heard  all  about  your  pretty  wife  and  what  a  quiet 
fellow  you  had  become,  before  I  knew  it  was  my  brother 
Lon  they  were  talking  about,"  said  Ed.,  with  the  slightest 
suggestion  of  a  sneer. 

"  Well,  you  heard  what  was  so,  and  you'll  find  it  out  for 
yourself  if  you  stay  about  here  long,"  said  Lon,  whose 
words  were  braver  than  he  felt  at  heart,  where  he  was 
sorely  troubled  with  secret  misgivings. 

"  We  won't  quarrel  about  it  to-night,  anyway.  Have 
you  any  room  in  there  and  a  couple  of  blankets  for  me?" 
rejoined  Ed. 

"  Why  of  course,  and  you're  welcome  to  it.  But  mind 
you,  Ed.,  not  a  word  to  her  about  what's  past." 

Ed.  promised  compliance,  and  the  Williams  brothers  en- 
tered the  house  together. 

"  Fanny,  this  is  my  brother  Edward.  You  have  never 
heard  of  him  because  he  was  away  out  of  this  part  of  the 
country  and  I  didn't  know  as  I'd  ever  see  him  again."  Then 
turning  to  his  brother,  he  said  :  ' 

"  Edward,  this  is  my  wife." 

While  it  was  some  time  before  Fanny  Williams  came  to 
know  anything  of  the  former  history  of  her  new  brother- 
in-law,  glimpses  of  his  true  character  were  ere  long  obtained 
by  her.  She  first  observed,  with  a  painful  heaviness  of 
of  heart,  that  he  took  up  the  most  of  Lon's  time  and  that 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  75 

he  was  by  degrees,  and  stealthily  as  it  seemed,  committing 
the  theft  of  the  latter's  peace  of  mind.  They  would  go  out 
for  long  walks  together,  and  on  returning,  Ed  would  be  the 
nearer  to  cheerfulness,  while  Lon  appeared  depressed  to  a 
degree  that  plainly  betokened  the  cause  of  an  effect. 

Lon  had  introduced  Edward  Williams  to  Hersey  people 
in  pretty  much  the  same  words  used  by  him  in  the  presen- 
tation of  a  brother-in-law  to  his  wife,  and  it  was  not  many 
weeks  before  the  private  opinion  entertained  by  Fanny 
came  to  be  shared  by  a  community,  as  to  the  character  of 
the  new-comer  and  the  weight  and  nature  of  his  influence 
over  Lon.  The  brothers  were  seen  in  saloons  more  frequent- 
ly than  Lon  had  been  known  to  visit  such  places,  in  Hersey 
or  Knapp,  even  before  his  marriage,  and  a  frequent  theme 
for  town  talk  was  afforded  by  the  great  change  coming  upon 
Lon  Williams.  He  got  to  be  slovenly  in  his  appearance 
and  was  either  sullen  or  strangely  boisterous  in  his  de> 
meanor. 

Lon  tried  less  and  less,  as  if  tired  of  further  feigning,  to 
maintain  a  cheerful  composure  in  Fanny's  presence,  but  at 
the  same  time  avoided  all  her  approaches  toward  the  con- 
fidence she  invited. 

The  young  wife  grieved  greatly  at  the  alteration  rapidly 
taking  place  in  Lon,  but  bore  her  burden  bravely,  exhibit- 
ing the  patience  and  fortitude  chiefly  characteristic  of  wo- 
man's mission  here  on  earth. 


CHAPTER  X. 
WAYS  OF  WICKEDNESS. 

LON's  PERIL. — WHY  HE   DRANK. — A    WIFE'S    WANING    IN- 
FLUENCE.  CRACK    REVOLVER    SHOTS. WIN- 
CHESTERS.— BROTHERS  AGAIN  IN  CRIME. 
STILLWATER. — A  THICKENING  PLOT. 

The  danger  to  which  Lon  Williams  was  exposed  by 
drink,  and  which  had  almost  entirely  disappeared  on  his 
marriage — the  culminating  point  of  his  reform — had  now 
returned,  and  an  hundredfold  worse  it  was.  What  had 
been  his  hazard,  only,  when  among  the  young  men  of  the 
mills,  became  his  imminent  peril,  in  the  presence  of  the 
arch-enemy  of  his  peace  and  better  nature.  Ed.  knew  his 
brother's  failing  of  old  and  craftily  led  him  on  to  the  brink 
of  a  precipice,  where  to  slip  and  to  fall  was  to  be  plunged 
headlong  in  a  pit  botomless  save  to  the  dead.  Out  of  pre- 
tended respect  for  Lon's  words  to  him  on  the  night  of  his 
reappearance,  Ed.  allowed  a  little  time  to  elapse  before 
broaching  the  subject  nearest  his  own  heart — a  seat  of 
blunted  sensibilities.  Drink,  however,  was  an  accomplice 

(76) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  ff 

he  called  to  his  aid  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  Lon  drank 
on  Ed.'s  pressing  him  to  adopt  a  popular  mode  of  relief,  if 
not  cure,  for  the  blues,  but  became  lower-spirited  in  conse- 
quence. He  drank  to  be  social,  and  was  saddened.  He 
drank  to  kill  time,  and  found  that  it  had  never  hung  so 
heavy  on  his  hands  before.  He  was  depressed  and  despon- 
dent, but  though  he  might  know  why,  he  lacked  the  moral 
courage  of  convictions  to  meet  his  danger  like  a  man,  and 
inspired  by  the  thought  of  the  wife  of  his  bosom  soon  to  be 
mother  of  his  child,  make  the  good  fight  against  a  lowering 
fate. 

Fanny  looked  on  with  an  aching  heart,  and  exerted  her 
iufluence  to  the  utmost  to  restore  and  revive  an  ambition 
fitfully  flickering  in  Lon's  breast.  Always  tender  and  af- 
fectionate with  his  wife,  Lon  was  more  than  once  drawn 
by  her  into  making  a  half-confession  of  the  cause  of  his 
present  trouble.  So  great,  however,  was  the  influence  his 
mind  exercised  over  hers,  in  the  "  melting  moods"  of  their 
intercourse,  that  as  a  result  of  their  partial  confidences,Fanny 
was  irresistably  brought  gradually  nearer  the  inevitable  con- 
clusion that  Lon  must  fall,  and  (fiat  her  fortunes  were  to 
follow  his,  life-linked  as  they  were. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  remarkable  pistol-prac- 
tice of  the  Williams  brothers,  for  which  alone  they  would 
have  been  famous  in  the  eyes  of  their  acquaintances,  took 
place  in  the  woods  around  Hersey  and  Knapp.  They  would 
go  out  in  the  timber  and  entertain  the  boys  at  dinner  time 


78  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

with  free  exhibitions  of  a  skill  in  handling  a  revolver,  the 
like  of  which  the  amazed  lumberers  had  never  witnessed 
before.  In  conversation  with  many  of  the  mill-hands  at 
Hersey,  The  Chicago  Times  correspondent  dispatched  to 
obtain  the  full  particulars  of  the  life  and  career  of  the  Wil- 
liams brothers  in  Wisconsin,  was  highly  entertained  on  this 
head.  He  writes: 

"I  could  fill  a  column  with  the  marvelous  shots  both  broth- 
ers made  in  sport  of  this  kind  last  spring.  Among  the 
many  in  my  rough  notes  are  the  following:  At  a  distance 
of  forty  paces  Lon  would  shoot  off  a  revolver  in  each  hand 
hitting  together  a  couple  of  sweet  potatoes  tossed  up  by  the 
hands  of  a  person  seated  on  the  ground.  At  eight  rods  Ed. 
would  knock  an  oyster  can  off  a  fence-post  with  a  shot  from 
his  right-hand  revolver,  and  before  it  reached  the  earth 
would  put  a  ball  through  it  from  the  "  navy  "  in  his  left 
hand.  Coming  up  the  railroad  track  together  at  one  time, 
they  drew  two  revolvers  each,  and  at  a  distance  of  sixteen 
rods  sighted  a  mark  on  a  log  at  one  side  of  the  track. 
Walking  leisurely  along,  they  put  the  twenty-four  shots  of 
a  couple  of  pairs  of  Colt's  navy  sixes  within  the  space  cov- 
ered by  the  palms  of  one's  two  hands.  One  of  the  brothers 
would  hold  in  his  hand  a  clay  pipe,  and  the  other,  at  twelve 
yards,  would  break  the  bowl.  This  shot  required  a  steadi- 
ness of  aim  rarely  reached  with  a  revolver." 

Both  Ed.  and  Lon  shot  equally  as  well  with  the  left  as 
with  the  right  hand.  When  practicing  with  their  favorite 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  79 

Winchesters,  weapons  which  it  was  noticed  they  came  to 
possess  shortly  after  Ed.  Williams*  appearance,  they  fired 
from  the  hip  with  an  aim  few  shots  are  sure  of  from  the 
shoulder.  Their  familiarity  with  fire-arms  and  intimate  ac- 
quaintance more  especially  with  the  deadly  Winchester  rifle 
cast  a  great  many  doubts  in  the  minds  of  Hersey  people, 
which  were  not  long  afterward  more  than  confirmed. 

When  Ed.  ran  short  of  funds,  and  Lon  was  unable  to  sup- 
ply him  with  more,  the  time  to  strike  in  the  former's  mind 
had  fairly  arrived.  One  day,  seated  in  a  saloon,  a  trifle  mel- 
low with  liquor,  charged  at  the  bar  to  Lon's  account,  Ed.  in 
an  off-hand  way  addressed  his  brother: 

"  I  say,  Lon,  it  ain't  very  pleasant  to  get  out  of  money. 
I  don't  know  how  you  feel  about  it,  but  I  would  like  to  go 
to  work.  Why,  it's  getting  to  be  a  matter  of  necessity." 

"  There's  only  one  kind  of  '  work '  you  can  do,"  said  Lon, 
gloomily. 

"  That's  all  right  for  me, brother;  but  I'm  a  thinking  that 
you  used  to  be  no  slouch  yourself  at  it.  And  now,  it  looks 
like,  we  might  better  go  at  that,  just  a  little  anyway,  rather 
than  starve,  which  you'll  come  to,  along  with  a  wife  and 
baby  directly,  if  you  keep  on  much  longer  the  way  you  are 
now." 

"  Well,  Ed.,  I  don't  know  my  own  mind  hardly,  since 
you've  come  here.  I  feel  all  broken  up,  and  I  can't  tell 
what's  the  matter  with  me." 

"  You  brace  up  and  listen  to  me,  and  I'll  promise  to  put 


8o  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

some  life  in  you.  I've  got  a  scheme  here  that's  a  dead  sure 
thing,  with  no  risk  to  speak  of,  and  you  bet  it  will  bring 
money  in  the  camp." 

Lon  listened,  half  listlessly  and  half  impatiently,  while 
Ed.  unfolded  the  plans  he  had  sketched  out  in  a  busy  brain 
for  "  earning  a  little  money."  He  had  fixed  an  evil  eye  on 
the  cash-drawers  of  certain  stores  in  several  small  towns 
across  the  river  in  Minnesota.  Horses  were  to  be  "bor- 
rowed" at  the  first  chance  that  offered,  in  the  adjoining  state 
where  he  proposed  to  strictly  confine  his  plundering.  He 
seemed  to  think  the  latter  fact  would  go  somewhat  towards 
mollifying  such  resistance  as  might  still  be  encountered  in 
Lon. 

"  We  won't  soil  our  hands  in  Wisconsin,  and  by  keeping 
shady  and  doubling  up  on  our  tracks  the  way  we  used  to, 
we  can  take  to  the  river  again  after  the  job  is  finished  over 
there,  and  none  of  your  Wisconsin  friends  will  ever  be  the 
wiser — nor  your  wife,  either,  for  that  matter." 

Lon  had  suffered  himself  to  be  led  a  second  time  into 
"the  terrible  temptation"of  his  life,  and  as  a  drowning  man 
catches  at  a  straw,  he  held  to  a  last  hope  that  his  evil-doing 
might  somehowbe  hidden  from  the  public  gaze.  He  would 
endeavor,  he  thought,  to  keepFanny  in  the  dark  as  long  as 
possible,  but  should  the  worst  come  to  her  ears,  he  felt  sure 
that  her  love  and  devotion  would  stand  the  test  and  trial, 
even  at  the  cost  of  bitter  anguish  of  spirit.  It  was 
of  the  most  importance,  in  his  eyes,  to  save  his  "bub- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  81 

ble  reputation"  in  the  eyes  of  new  found  friends  in 
Wisconsin. 

Again  the  two  brothers  "  understood"  each  other,  and 
before  going  home  to  Lon's  fireside,  that  afternoon,  they 
had  arranged  the  details  of  an  expedition  to  Minnesota  in 
accordance  with  the  plans  already  formed  in  Ed's  mind. 

The  associates  at  Hersey  whose  company  Ed.  preferred, 
and  with  whom  Lon  therefore  became  thrown,  were  of  a 
morally  low  character,  the  best  dressed  of  them  belonging 
to  that  class  in  every  community  which  is  held  in  suspicion 
on  general  principles,  as  bearing,  outwardly,  the  faint  semb- 
lance of  a  respectability  it  would  be  hard  to  find,  on  a  fail- 
presumption,  within  the  walks  of  their  private  lives.  Among 
these  semi-respectable  people,  with  whom  the  Williams 
brothers  maintained  cordial  if  not  confidential  relations  were 
the  De Wolfe  brothers,  of  Hersey,  whose  actions  later  on 
were  certainly  confirmatory  in  a  great  measure  of  the  doubt 
and  distrust  entertained  of  them. 

Frequent  long  excursions  came  next  to  be  made  by  Ed. 
and  Lon  Williams,  and  no  one  knew  of  their  whereabouts 
during  the  intervals  of  their  absence.  They  were  some- 
times, when  thus  "  called  away  on  business"  as  Fanny  would 
say  to  neighbors  if  they  questioned  her,  merely  on  prospect- 
ing tours,  while  at  others  in  search  of  plunder  at  designated 
places.  As  Ed.  expressed  it,  "  enough  to  live  on"  was  in 
this  manner  obtained. 

The  scheme  to  rob  a  number  of  stores  in  different  towns 


82  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

across  the  Mississippi,  which  Ed.  had  for  some  reason  de- 
ferred, was  finally  put  into  partial  execution  during  the  first 
part  of  May,  1881.  A  couple  of  horses  were  stolen  in  the 
country  near  where  they  crossed  the  river  in  a  skiff,  and  the 
cracksmen  headed  for  Stillwater,  their  designs  as  to  the  other 
towns  on  the  way  having  been  abandoned  as  involving  too 
great  a  risk  at  one  time.  The  "  steal"  at  Stillwater  lacked 
the  elements  of  peril  and  excitement  which  go  to  make  up 
the  romance  of  outlawry.  It  was  quite  a  common-place 
affair,  as  contrasted  with  episodes  of  a  similar  sort  in  the 
former  criminal  careers  of  its  perpetrators.  A  store  was 
broken  into  during  one  night  and  some  money  and  goods 
were  taken.  The  haul  was  not  a  large  one,  but  yielding  to 
Lon's  wish  to  return  home  again  before  pursuing  the  path 
of  pillage  further,  Ed.  consoled  himself  with  the  reflection 
that  it  was  worth  going  after  at  any  rate,  and  that  it  would 
keep  them  in  spending  money  until  the  next  raid.  When 
ready  to  cross  the  river  again,  Ed.  wanted  to  swim  their 
horses  over,  and  keep  them  for  their  own  use.  To  this  Lon 
would  not  consent,  for  fear  the  animals  would  be  found  in 
their  possession  or  traced  to  them  if  hidden  in  the  woods 
near  Hersey,  and  so  the  horses  were  turned  loose,  and  not 
long  afterwards  recovered  by  their  rightful  owners. 

The  muddy  Mississippi  was  recrossed  in  the  skiff,  and  the 
stolen  goods  were  conveyed  to  a  hiding  place  within  a  few 
miles  of  Hersey.  The  brothers  then  returned  to  Lon's 
house,  and  resumed  their  occupation  of  killing  time. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  83 

The  fresh  plot  of  the  criminal  history  of  the  "  Williams 
brothers"  was  fast  thickening,  "  like  the  storm  that  flies." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OUTLAWED  ONCE    MORE. 

A   CONFIDANTE   OF   FANNY. — THE    LOYAL    WIFE'S    DEVO- 
TION.— A  WARRANT  FOR  THE  WILLIAMS    BROTHERS. 

SHERIFF  KELLY  ENTERTAINED. — A  SCENE. OFF 

FOR  ILLINOIS. A  SAD  PARTING. TWO  HORSES 

WORTH  HAVING. — AN  OLD  SCORE  PAID. — 
A    LIVELY    CHASE. — HOMEWARD. 

On  their  return  from  Stillwater  Lon  told  his  brother  that 
he  intended  to  take  his  wife  into  their  confidence,  so  far  at 
least  as  letting  her  into  the  secret  of  their  present  mode  of 
life.  Ed.  had  no  objections  to  offer,  provided  Lon  would 
be  responsible  for  Fanny,  to  the  necessary  extent  of  seeing 
that  she  kept  her  mouth  shut. 

The  young  wife,  then  nearing  confinement  and  in  conse- 
quence drawn  closer  than  ever  to  her  mate  on  his  return  to 
the  home  nest,  had  been  prepared  by  the  much  she  had 
seen  and  the  more  she  had  surmised,  for  the  confession  Lon 
made  to  her  one  night.  A  devoted  wife,  with  whom  joy 
is  duty  and  love  is  law,  may  it  is  said,  forgive  where  she 
can  not  forget,  and  will  as  it  proved  to  be  the  case  with 

(84) 


°f  Williams  Brothers.  85 

Fanny  Williams,  invent  excuses  for  very  much  of  that  to 
the  error  and  sin  of  which  she  can  not  be  blind,  and  which 
the  while  preys  gnawingly  upon  her  peace  of  mind.  "With 
all  his  faults, "  she  not  only  "  loved  him  still, "  but  yet  re- 
mained the  constant  and  true  soul,  sealed  to  his  as  sincerely 
pledged  "  for  better,  for  worse. " 

The  Williams  brothers  were  not  long  permitted  to  plun* 
der  at  their  pleasure  without  an  exposure  which  sooner  or 
later  follows  every  crime,  big  or  little,  and  in  their  case  it 
was  an  early  one,  putting  them  to  many  inconveniences. 
They  had  been  seen  across  the  river  and  in  Stillwater,  and 
the  detectives  followed  up  the  clues  so  skillfully  as  within 
two  weeks'  time  to  determine  the  fact  of  the  robbery 
having  been  committed  by  the  Williams  boys.  A  warrant 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Sheriff  Kelley  of  St.  Croix 
county,  and  that  officer  undertook  without  any  uneasiness 
whatever,  the  arrest  of  the  two  alleged  thieves. 

No  trouble  was  apprehended  by  the  officer,  who  set  about 
his  task  without  "  fixing  "  himself  further  than  to  put  in  his 
belt  the  ordinary  six-shooter  carried  by  sheriffs.  He  went 
alone,  armed  only  with  his  revolver  and  the  authority  of 
the  State.  He  had  had,  of  course,  no  previous  means  of 
knowing  how  extremely  fond  the  men  he  was  after  had  be- 
come, again  as  in  that  past  of  which  as  yet  their  Wisconsin 
acquaintances  were  ignorant,  of  challenging  that  same  au- 
thority of  the  law  when  opposed  to  them  in  all  its  moral 


86  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

majesty,  but  in  a  numerical  minority  on  noses  and  revolvers 
being  counted. 

Proceeding  to  Lon's  house  Sheriff  Kelley  knocked  at  the 
door  which  was  opened  by  Lon,  whom  he  knew  slightly 
and  with  whom  he  shook  hands. 

The  officer  was  invited  in  and  given  a  chair  in  the  room 
where  Lon  rejoined  his  wife  and  brother.  The  "business 
of  the  meeting  "  was  called  up,  after  a  few  preliminaries  of 
conversation. 

"  Gentlemen,  Pm  sorry  to  disturb  you,  but  you're  wanted 
across  the  river  and  a  warrant  for  your  arrest  has  been  put 
in  my  hands  to  serve. " 

At  his  words  both  Ed.  and  Lon  rose  to  their  feet,  and  the 
sheriff  following  suit,  all  three  drew  their  revolvers. 

u  We  don't  intend  that  you  shall  disturb  us  much,  Mr 
Sheriff,  and  you  may  as  well  make  up  your  mind  right  away 
than  you'll  have  to  go  back  alone,"  said  Ed. 

At  this  juncture  Fanny,  trembling  with  fear,  and  next  to 
sobbing  with  emotion,  the  greater  because  of  her  delicate 
condition,  excitedly  threw  herself  upon  her  husband  and 
implored  him  not  to  shoot. 

"Come,  it's  time  for  you  to  be  making  tracks  out  of 
here, "  said  Ed.,watching  Sheriff  Kelley  narrowly.  Throw- 
ing on  a  sudden  two  revolvers  down  upon  the  officer  he 
added: 

**  Put  up  your  pop,  and  get  out  of  that  door  or  I'll  make 
a  c  blood  pudding '  out  of  you  in  no  time  at  all." 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  87 

What  could  the  Sheriff  do  ?  Let  those  who  will  condemn 
an  officer  for  backing  down  under  such  circumstances.  The 
odds  were  against  him,  "  the  drop  "  was  on  him,  and  life 
was  too  sweet  to  throw  away  in  such  a  manner. 

Sheriff  Kelley,  therefore,  made  the  best  of  a  perilous  pre- 
dicament, and  retired  with  a  discretion  sans  grace,  sans 
glory,  sans  everything  that  he  came  for. 

Ed.'s  derisive,  mocking  laugh  followed  the  officer  out. 

"  Send  to  Stillwater  for  a  Minnesota  sheriff,  and  let  him 
try  his  luck  with  the  Williams  brothers.  Ha !  ha !  ha ! " 

The  sheriff  of  St.  Croix  knowing  that  the  Williams 
boys  had  a  great  many  friends  in  Hersey,  and  fearing  that 
another  attempt  at  the  time  to  arrest  them  would  be  disas- 
trous to  him,  left  for  his  home  in  Hudson,  with  stinging 
cheeks  conspicuously  betraying  his  sense  of  shame  at  the 
fiasco  that  had  fallen  upon  him,  whether  through  his  ignor- 
ance or  imprudence  it  mattered  not  so  far  as  a  public,  fond  of 
its  laugh  at  anybody's  expense,  was  concerned. 

As  it  would  have  been  the  height  of  folly  to  remain  much 
longer  where  they  were,  after  the  cool  piece  of  imperti- 
nence to  which  they  had  treated  the  High  Sheriff 
of  their  county,  the  Williams  brothers  completed  their 
arrangements  to  leave  Hersey  and  the  country  a  few  days 
later. 

The  parting  between  Lon  and  Fanny  was  indeed  sad. 
She  felt  instinctively  that  it  was  for  the  last  time  on  earth. 


88  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

To  her  this  was  a  final  separation,  one  of  the  partings  such 
as  Byron  says 

—-press 
The  life  out  of  young  hearts. 

He  was  sorrow-smitten  to  an  almost  equal  degree,  if  he 
did  not  secretly  share  her  superstition.  Locked  in  each 
other's  arms  for  upward  of  an  hour  they  remained,  he  pow- 
erless to  console,  and  she  inconsolable. 

The  brothers  traveled  southward  and  crossing  the  Mis- 
sissippi struck  down  into  Illinois,  where  Ed.  had  a  piece  of 
work  mapped  out  to  perform.  A  couple  of  good  saddle 
horses  were  wanted  by  them  more  perhaps  than  anything 
else  at  the  time,  and  Ed.  had  resolved  to  obtain  them  in  Il- 
linois, a  state  that  had  furnished  two  brothers,  of  another 
name  but  of  about  their  build,  some  years  before,  many  a 
steed  none  the  less  sounder  for  being  stolen.  On  reaching 
Henderson  county  on  opportunity  offered,  and  two  valuable 
horses,  a  bay  gelding  and  a  brown  mare,  were  secured  on 
the  night  of  May  3Oth.  The  stars  were  out  but  there  was 
no  moon — they  couldn't  afford  to  wait  for  that  talisman  of 
success.  They  rode  their  new  horses  through  the  old  haunts 
of  the  Maxwell  brothers  to  whom  they  bore  such  a  striking 
resemblance  that  there  were  people  who  saw  them  on  this 
visit  to  Illinois  who  never  took  them  to  be  the  brothers  by 
the  name  they  bore  in  Wisconsin.  They  went  next  to  Col- 
chester, McDonough  county,  and  spending  a  part  of  one 
day  and  night  there,  proceeded  to  Macomb,  a  village  in  the 
same  county. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  89 

Macomb  was  the  residence  of  Mr.  Neese,  the  lawyer  who 
had  prosecuted  Alonzo  Maxwell  for  horse-stealing,  and 
against  whom  the  younger  Maxwell  had  made  a  threat  to 
get  even  some  day.  On  the  first  and  last  night  of  their 
stay  in  Macomb,  they  paid  a  visit  to  the  stable  of  Attorney 
Neese,  and  stole  a  double  harness,  a  single  harness  and  a 
fine  top  buggy.  Hitching  their  well-mated  team  to  the 
buggy,  they  drove  off  through  the  woods.  After  going  a 
distance  of  about  thirty  miles  the  buggy  was  run  into  a 
stump  and  completely  ruined,  and  the  two  sets  of  harness 
were  left  in  a  mutilated  condition. 

They  then  remounted  and  rode  to  Smithfield,  near  where 
they  camped  in  the  woods.  On  the  next  morning  they  were 
seen  by  a  boy,  too  quick-witted  to  swallow  their  stories 
about  being  out  hunting.  The  boy  on  going  to  town  told 
the  officers,  and  his  description  of  the  men  and  horses  tally- 
ing with  that  furnished  only  the  day  before  by  Sheriff  An- 
derson, of  Henderson  county,  the  latter  was  promptly  tele- 
graphed. The  wily  Williamse*,  however,  had  made  many 
a  mile  on  their  journey,  going  by  way  of  Peoria,  before 
sheriff  Anderson  had  reached  Smithfield.  Their  tracks  were 
readily  taken  up  by  the  Anderson  county  sheriff,  and  the 
pursuit  urged  on  with  all  alacrity.  Just  above  Peoria  the 
brothers  crossed  the  Illinois  river,  and  night  coming  on  they 
stopped  for  shelter  in  a  school-house,  stabling  their  horses  in 
a  coal  shed  near  by.  A  man  passing  along  the  road  at  an 
early  hour  next  morning  saw  the  horses'  heads  sticking  out 


90  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

of  an  aperture  in  the  shed,  and  raised  an  alarm.  An  inves- 
tigation was  made  by  several  parties  and  the  school-house 
was  found  to  be  locked.  One  of  the  school  trustees  was 
sent  for,  and  with  a  dozen  men  at  his  heels  walked  up  to 
and  unlocked  the  door.  Entering,  the  trustee  was  terrified 
beyond  expression  at  finding  himself  facing  four  revolvers, 
held  in  the  hands  of  two  men. 

"  Good  morning  to  you.  We  had  to  climb  in  a  window 
last  night,  seeing  you  had  the  key,"  spoke  up  Ed. 

The  trustee  smiled  a  sickly  smile  and  on  Lon's  nodding 
him  permission,  backed  himself  into  the  chilly  bosom  of  a 
crowd  that  allowed  itself,  as  it  were,  to  quietly  disperse. 

The  Williams  brothers  leisurely  mounted  their  horses 
and  rode  off.  After  making  four  or  five  miles  they  turned 
and  doubled  on  their  track — an  old  trick  of  the  Maxwells, 
oddly  enough — and  experienced  the  great  satisfaction,  later 
in  the  day,  of  lying  by  in  the  woods  while  sheriff  Anderson 
and  posse,  in  hot  pursuit  passed  within  a  few  rods  of  them. 

It  was  over  a  week  before  their  trail  was  again  found, 
when  it  was  discovered,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  of- 
ficers, that  the  Williams  brothers  had  turned  back,  going  as 
far  as  Washburn,  Woodford  county,  where  they  were  re- 
cognized under  another  name.  Sheriff  Anderson  only 
reached  Washburn  to  learn  that  they  had  been  gone  several 
days.  It  was  ascertained  that  they  had  taken  a  northerly 
direction,  and  becoming  satisfied  that  they  were  bound  for 
Wisconsin,  sheriff  Anderson  sent  postal-cards  giving  a  des- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  91 

cription  of  the  "  Maxwell  brothers,"  and  announcing  the  re- 
ward of  $200  which  Henderson  county  had  offered  for  their 
capture,  to  a  number  of  points  including  Hudson,  Hersey, 
Arkansaw,  Durand  and  Menomonie. 

While  working  their  way  up  toward  Wisconsin,  Ed.  was 
full  of  glee  at  their  eluding  so  cleverly  as  keen  an  officer  as 
sheriff  Anderson,  but  Lon's  mind  was  full  of  forebodings 
he  could  neither  apprehend  the  portent  of  nor  shake  off. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DESOLATION  AND  DESPAIR. 

FANNY   AT   HER   MOTHER'S — AN    OFFICER'S     VISIT. — THE 

CRISIS. THE  DELIVERY  OF  DEATH. SUFFERING  AND 

RELEASE     OF     THE     YOUNG     MOTHER. AT     HER 

GRAVE. LON'S     RETURN     AND     REMORSE. 

THOUGHTS  OF  REVENGE. — A 
LETTER    OF    DESPAIR. 

The  day  after  Lon's  departure  with  his  brother,  Fanny 
Williams  set  off  for  Arkansaw,  it  having  been  arranged  with 
her  husband  that  she  should  seek  the  shelter  of  her  mother's 
house  while  undergoing  her  approaching  ordeal.  The 
oppressed  state  of  her  spirits,  together  with  the  secret  appre- 
hensions naturally  aroused  within  her  breast  on  about  becom- 
ing a  mother  for  the  first  time,  threw  her  into  a  nervous, 
fevensh  illness.  Mrs.  Thompson,  whose  heart  was  racked 
to  see  the  cruel  lines  of  poignant  and  uncontrollable  sorrow 
in  her  daughter's  face,  wept  over  and  waited  on  her  with  a 
mother's  thoughtful  tenderness  and  deep  devotion. 

Sheriff  Anderson's  postal  cards,  and  the  promise  of  the 

(92) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  93 

$200  reward,  had  the  effect  of  stimulating  to  a  degree  the 
Wisconsin  authorities,  who  were  not  slow  in  putting 
together  the  aliases  of  the  desperadoes  as  duly  described. 
An  impression  existed  in  the  mind  of  Under-sheriff  Knight, 
then  in  charge  of  affairs  in  the  office  of  the  Sheriff  of  Pepin 
county,  that  the  Williams  brothers  had  come  into  his  county 
and  had  not  gone  any  further  north.  The  opinion  was 
based  on  the  knowledge  of  the  removal  to  Arkansaw,  in 
that  county,  of  Lon's  wife,  and  the  belief  that  Lon  would 
remain  near  her  side  as  long  as  he  was  not  directly  disturbed. 
Acting  upon  this  theory,  Under-sheriff  Knight,  in  company 
with  a  deputy,  proceeded  one  day  to  Arkansaw  and  rode  out 
to  William  Thompson's  place,  with  some  idea  of  earning  a 
fatter  fee  than  he  had  made  in  many  a  day.  Knight  failed 
to  find  either  the  Williams  brothers  or  any  traces  of  them, 
but  succeeded  admirably  in  frightening  a  helpless  young 
wife,  lying  in  the  most  delicate  condition  known  to  her  sex, 
and  agitated  beyond  measure  at  the  nature  of  the  noisy  visit 
paid  the  house  by  the  officers. 

The  crisis  in  the  case  of  the  confined  wife  came  about  the 
middle  of  June,  and  laid  Fanny  Williams  at  death's  door. 
During  the  delivery  of  a  still-born  child,  she  suffered  the 
most  excrutiating  agonies,  at  the  hands  of  her  physicians^ 
who  were  powerless  to  save  either  life.  For  a  few  dragging 
hours,  during  which  her  physical  misery  was  hardly  greater 
than  her  mental  torture  resultant  from  a  heart  breaking  on 
its  utter  abandonment  in  a  gulf  of  grief,  she  lingered. 


94  Life  of  Williams  Brothers, 

Then  the  angels  of  Death,  in  mercy,  settled  down  upon  her 
in  their  "  hovering  mist"  of  supernatural  light,  and  bore 
away  the  stricken  spirit  to  the  realms  of  rest  and  peace 
eternal. 

The  funeral  sermon,  over  the  remains  of  mother  and  child, 
was  preached  by  Elder  Donner.  The  good  man's  words 
were  simple  and  earnest  to  a  touching  degree,  bordering 
upon  that  rare  eloquence,  "out  of  the  abundance  of  the 
heart."  Recalling  the  fact  that  a  year  and  one-half  ago  he 
had  pronounced  the  blesssing  upon  the  marriage  by  him  oi 
Fanny  Hussey  to  Lon  Williams — a  "perfect  union"  that  had 
promised  the  best  fruits  only  of  the  matrimonial  state — the 
preacher  recounted  brief  portions  of  the  sad  story  of  her 
wedded  life,  whose  damask  bloom  had  faded  beneath 
the  crushing  weight  of  the  curse  she  in  her  loyalty  took  up 
as  her  cross,  bearing  it  until  death,  without  once,  even  while 
in  the  depths  of  her  distress  and  despair,  murmuring  his 
name  save  in  the  tones  of  love. 

Elder  Donner  thus  conducted  the  second  service  he  was 
called  on  to  perform,  wherein  he  saw  the  hand  of  a  cruel 
fate  that  had  raised  up  and  for  a  while  tended  with  nurtur- 
ing care  the  love-branch  consisting  of  the  entwined  lives  of 
two  young  and  happy  hearts,  only  to  destroy  the  tender 
vine,  killing  outright  its  principal  root  and  the  tiny  shoot 
that  had  but  just  started  to  appear  upon  the  bearing  stem. 

Sad  though  his  heart,  his  peace  of  mind  was  as  yet  free 
from  any  consciousness  of  the  nature  and  occasion  of  the 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  95 

third  service — curiously  connected  with  a  sad  history  not 
yet  half  spun  out  from  the  wheel  of  that  fate  which  had 
only  numbered  the  first  of  its  victims — he  should  feel  him- 
self to  be  called  on  to  perform. 

The  4  Williams  brothers  returning  from  Illinois,  reached 
the  river,  which  they  crossed  below  the  mouth  of  the  Chip- 
pewa,  on  the  date  of  the  death  of  Lon's  wife.  The  spirits 
of  the  younger  brother  were  in  mysterious  accord  with  the 
great  sorrow  soon  to  overwhelm  him,  on  the  intelligence  ot 
the  funeral  of  his  Hope. 

Making  their  way  through  Buffalo  county,  the  brothers 
gained  the  northeastern  strip  of  Pepin  county  and  then 
changing  their  course  they  rode  west,  swimming  their 
horses  across  the  Chippewa  above  Durand,aud  took  the  di- 
rection of  Arkansaw.  The  Thompsons  were  unexpectedly 
awakened  from  sleep  one  night,  and  on  rising  and  going  to 
the  door  Mrs.  Thompson  was  met  by  Lon  Williams,  who 
greeted  her  with  the  impulsive  affection  of  a  child,  as  he 
anxiously  plied  her  with  inquiries  about  Fanny.  Gently 
disengaging  herself  from  his  embrace  after  returning  it  in 
a  motherly  manner,  Mrs.  Thompson  broke  the  awful  news 
to  Lon,  as  best  as  she  could  command  her  words  between 
spells  of  sobbing,  in  which  she  was  joined  by  her  son-in- 
law,  who  shed  hot,  scalding  tears  of  keen  remorse  and  ex- 
treme bitterness  of  spirit. 

Ed.  and  Lon  remained  at  William  Thompson's  house 
several  days,  on  one  of  which  Lon  drove  his  mother-in-law 


96  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

in  a  buggy  over  to  Hersey.  When  at  Hersey  Mrs.  Thomp- 
son and  Lon  were  seen  and  spoken  to  by  no  few  of  their 
friends. 

To  those  with  whom  he  conversed  freely  on  the  subject 
of  his  wife's  death,  and  of  his  own  probable  future,  Lon  ex- 
pressed himself  in  the  same  strain.  He  said  that  with  the 
IOSF  of  his  wife,  the  only  incentive  in  his  life  to  reform  had 
gone — and  forever — and  that  he  didn't  care  to  live  any 
longer  except  for  revenge  upon  those  he  fancied  had 
injured  him.  He  had  somehow  got  the  idea  that  his  wife 
might  have  been  saved,  if  he  had  not  been  driven  away 
from  her  side  at  the  time  he  was  needed  or  wanted  there 
the  most,  and  he  had  brooded  over  his  troubles,  real  and 
imaginary,  to  an  extent  that  left  him  an  exceedingly  des- 
perate and  dangerous  man.  He  said,  to  one  of  his  old  com- 
panions among  the  mill-hands: 

"  I've  got  the  *  name'  again,  and  I'll  have  the  *  game.' 
Since  Fanny's  death  I've  got  nothing  left  worth  living  for, 
and  I'll  die  first  before  they'll  ever  take  me." 

Driving  to  the  telegraph  office,  Lon  called  the  operator 
out,  and  after  telling  him  how  he  (Lon)  felt,  threatened  to 
shoot  him  if  he  sent  a  message  during  the  day  to  the  Sheriff, 
informing  that  officer  of  Mrs.  Thompson's  and  Lon's  pres- 
ence in  Hersey.  Among  other  acquaintances  accosted  on 
the  street  by  the  occupants  of  the  buggy,  was  Mrs.  Adams, 
a  former  next-door  neighbor  to  Lon  and  Fanny  Will- 
iams. Mrs.  Adams  stated  afterwards  that  Lon  spoke  to 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  97 

her  most  feelingly  and  reverently  of  liis  departed  wife. 

The  true  state  of  Lon's  feelings  at  this  time  is  accurately 
ascertained  from  his  own  words,  penned  in  an  impulsive 
outburst  of  a  bosom  "  inly  raging"  with  its  desolation  and 
despair,  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Elder  Donner,  the  firm 
friend  to  Fanny  and  himself.  This  letter  read  as  follows: 
"SUNDAY  NIGHT,  June  26,  1881. 

Mr.  Donner — Sir: — I  have  been  wanting  to  speak  with 
you  ever  since  I  came  back,  and  not  having  the  opportunity 
I  will  have  to  transfer  my  thoughts  to  paper.  I  want  to 
say  this  (although  it  isn't  much),  that  what  few  of  the  neigh- 
bors and  acquaintances  of  mine  that  respected  me  in  the  least 
when  I  was  first  married,  I  want  to  keep  their  respect.  I 
know  at  the  present  time  that  I  have  very  few  sympathiz- 
ing friends.  The  majority  doubtless  say,  *  I  pitied  his  wife, 
but  him — let  him  go  to  the  dogs.'  Now,  as  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  I  want  to  say  this — that  what  the  folks  say  about 
me  I  don't  care  so  much  for  as  this  :  The  talk  was  started 
that  I  married  Fanny  with  the  intention  of  leaving  her.  I  want 
to  say  that  no  man  was  ever  more  honest  in  his  dealing  with 
or  profession  to  a  woman  than  I  was  with  her.  Circum- 
stances placed  me  in  such  a  position  that  I  could  hear  noth- 
ing of  the  way  things  were  a-going  up  here  till  I  finally 
came  up.  But  too  late.  She  was  dead.  Oh,  this  has  been 
a  terrible  shock  to  me,  although  iew  would  believe  it.  They 
doubtless  say  this,  *  He  is  glad  of  il.  but,  Mr.  Donner,  you 
had  better  buried  me  than  her,  for  1  now  am  a  ruined  man. 


^8  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

My  life  is  wrecked,  and  I  care  no  more  for  it.  I  was  always 
alone  in  the  world  till  I  got  her,  and  now  1  stand  alone 
again,  with  nothing  to  live  for,  and  no  object  in  view*  It 
almost  sets  me  crazy  when  I  hear  of  any  one  saying,  *  He 
intended  to  leave  her  in  the  spring  anyway,'  but,  Mr.  Don- 
ner,  if  my  word  is  good  for  anything,  believe  what  I  have 
said.  It  can  now  make  no  difference  to  me  what  people 
say,  only  it  seems  as  though  I  had  ought  to  say  it  for  her 
sake  but  not  my  own.  I  know  she  was  too  good  a  woman 
for  me ;  I  knew  it,  but  still  I  knew  as  well  how  to  appreciate 
her  as  any  one  could,  and  now  that  she  is  dead  I  want  to 
clear  her  memory  of  every  chance  of  reproach  because  she 
was  innocent  as  any  angel  could  be;  and  now,  Mr.  Donner, 
she  has  been  torn  from  me.  It  might  have  been  the  will  of 
God,  but  I  think  it  was  the  doings  of  men,  and  my  desire  to 
retaliate  is  fearful  strong, — nothing  but  respect  for  her  holds 
me  back;  but  now,  if  they  come  for  me  again  I  won't  run 
from  them.  I  have  nothing  to  keep  out  of  their  way  now 
for.  When  Fanny  was  alive  I  kept  out  of  their  way  for  her 
sake,  but  now  they  have  done  all  they  could ;  they  have 
driven  me  away  from  her  and  I'll  never  see  her  again  now. 
All  they  can  do  is  to  come  and  take  my  life,  they  can  take  it 
easy  if  they  know  how.  Mr.  Donner,  my  life  is  so  wrecked 
that  I  almost  want  them  to  come  on  to  me  that  they  can  see 
what  a  desperate  wreck  they  have  left.  Now,  Mr.  Donner, 
I  simply  tell  you  all  this  because  I  know  you  to  be  a  man  of 
principle.  I  mean  this  just  for  yourself,  and  if  justice  were 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  99 

done  me,  no  charge  could  be  brought  against  me.  I  merely 
wanted  to  help  my  brother,  and  that  ruined  me.  If  it  is  not 
asking  too  much  of  you,  I  wish  you  would  pray  for  me.  A 
petition  to  God  from  some  one,  it  seems,  would  do  me  good, 
for  I  can't  do  it  myself.  Farewell, 

Respectfully,  LON  WILLIAMS." 

He  had  turned  to  that  friend,  as  if  in  a  moment  of  hesita- 
tion— pausing  to  ask  of  another  an  assistance  he  could  not 
recruit  within  himself,  before  casting  all  to  the  winds  and 
burning  every  bridge  behind  him. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  GREAT  CRIME. 

BUGGY-RIDING — TAKING   IN   A   CIRCUS — THE   SAFE-KEEP- 
ING  OBTAINED    FOR     A    STOLEN    HORSE — VENGEANCE 
VOWED  —  A    TRIP    TO    DURAND — THE      COLEMAN 
BROTHERS — THE    OUTLAWS    CROSS    THE    CHIPPE- 
WA  —  PREPARATIONS    FOR    AN   ENCOUNTER — 
"INTO   THE  JAWS  OF  DEATH" — DESCRIPTION 
IN    DETAIL   OF   A    BLOODY    BUTCHERY. 

The  Williams  brothers  were  next  seen  together  near  a 
small  farm  clearing  in  the  "  big  woods,"  in  Dunn  county,  a 
short  distance  from  the  St.  Croix  county  line.  They  were 
then  driving  one  of  their  Illinois  horses  in  a  top  buggy, 
leading  the  other.  Where  they  stole  the  buggy  has  never 
been  known,  but  that  addition  to  their  outfit  was  made  most 
likely  somewhere  in  Wisconsin. 

On  Thursday,  June  30th,  the  brothers  visited  Menomonie. 
Great  numbers  of  the  country  people  for  miles  around  had 
flocked  in  the  county  seat  of  Dunn  county,  allured  by  the 
flaming  show-bills  of  a  circus,  which  had  pitched  its  tents 
there  on  that  date.  The  presence  of  the  Williams  brothers 

(100) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  101 

was  due  to  Ed.'s  desise  to  "  take  in  "  the  show.  Both  Ed. 
and  Lon  were  recognized  several  times  on  the  ground,  but 
even  if  the  officers  had  been  put  upon  their  track  it  would 
have  been  by  no  means  an  easy  task  to  pick  out  thieves  from 
among  the  sea  of  faces  in  the  crowd. 

Leaving  Menomonie  as  quietly  as  they  had  come,  the 
brothers  hitched  up  one  of  their  horses,  which  they  had  left 
with  the  buggy  in  the  woods  just  out  of  town,  and  still 
leading  the  other,  drove  off  in  the  direction  of  Pepin  coun- 
ty taking  the  Eau  Galle  road.  They  concluded  that  it 
would  be  policy  to  leave  one  of  the  horses  in  good  hands,  if 
such  could  be  found,  and  on  coming  to  a  farm-house  several 
miles  below  Eau  Galle,  they  stopped  to  see  who  lived  there. 
On  learning  from  the  lady  of  the  house,  Mrs.  Sands,  that 
she  was  a  widow  and  lived  pretty  much  alone,  Lon  asked 
and  obtained  her  permission  to  place  the  led  horse  in  her 
stable,  promising  to  pay  liberally  for  its  care  and  feed.  They 
told  her  they  would  be  back  in  a  few  days  to  get  the  horse, 
and  after  thanking  her  for  her  kindness  and  a  drink  of  cool 
water,  they  drove  away  in  the  buggy. 

A  day  or  two  after  undersheriff  Knight,  of  Pepin  county, 
happened  along  that  way,  and  on  learning  that  a  fine  look- 
ing horse  had  been  left  with  the  widow  Sands,  by  two 
strange  men  he  called  at  the  widow's  place  to  see  the  ani- 
mal. As  soon  as  he  saw  the  horse,  the  officer  recognized  i* 
as  the  bay  gelding  stolen  in  Illinois,  from  the  description 
furnished  him.  He  told  the  widow  what  he  knew  of  the 


102  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

horse  and  informed  her  that  he  .would  be  compelled  to  re- 
cover it  for  the  owner,  as  stolen  property.  He  added,  as  he 
was  about  to  leave,  that  if  the  two  unknown  parties  should 
return  for  the  horse,  she  might  tell  them  that  "  Sheriff 
Knight  would  be  responsible "  for  its  safe-keeping  in  Du- 
rand.  Knight  was  told  by  Mrs.  Senz,  who  respected  his 
authority  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  men  who  had  left 
the  horse  in  her  keeping  had  said  they  would  be  back  for  it 
in  a  few  days.  It  is  the  opinion  of  a  good  many  that  Under- 
sheriff  Knight  should  have  either  acted  on  this  information 
and  obtaining  a  posse  surrounded  the  premises  and  lain  in 
wait  for  the  desperadoes,  against  their  return,  or  else  have 
not  taken  the  horse  at  all.  It  certainly  seems  that  an  excel- 
lent opportunity  offered  itself  here  to  effect  a  capture  which 
had  it  been  thus  accomplished,  by  means  of  stratagem  and 
force  of  numbers,  would  have  spared  an  unnecessary  slaugh- 
ter and  the  sorrow  and  and  suffering  entailed  in  consequence* 
However,  Knight  may  not  have  put  any  faith  in  the  asser- 
tion of  "  the  strangers  "  that  they  intended  to  return  for  the 
horse,  valued  as  high,  perhaps,  as  $500,  and  have  thought 
best  to  secure  the  animal  first,  without  paying  much  regard 
to  the  thieves  at  that  time. 

Agreeably  to  their  word,  the  Williams  brothers  reap- 
peared at  the  widow  Senz's  place,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few 
days.  They  asked  for  their  horse  and  wanted  to  know  how 
much  they  owed  the  lady  for  its  safe-keeping.  On  learning 
to  whom  and  how  the  gelding's  "  safe-keeping "  had  been 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  103 

entrusted  of  a  necessity  by  Mrs.  Senz,  the  strangers  (to  the 
widow)  waxed  wroth. 

"  So  Mr.  Knight  said  he  would  be  responsible  for  that 
horse,  did  he?  It's  mighty  hard  to  lose  a  fellow's  horse, 
right  in  haying  time,  too,  don't  you  think  ?  "  asked  one  of 
the  "  injured  parties." 

"  Well,  we'll  go  down  and  settle  up  with  Knight.  I've 
got  a  personal  grudge  against  him  myself,"  said  the  other. 

The  widow  was  almost  led  to  believe  in  the  virtue  of  in- 
dignation so  great  as  that  exhibited  by  the  unknown  parties 
who  might,  for  all  she  knew,  be  the  hard-working  young 
farmers  they  professed  to  be,  and  watched  their  departure, 
in  an  angry  mood,  with  some  failing  of  confidence  as  to  the 
course  of  the  officer. 

The  Williams  brothers  drove  off  in  the  direction  of  Du- 
rand,  but  had  only  proceeded  a  few  miles  on  their  way 
when  they  turned  aside  from  the  main  road  into  the  woods. 
Driving  in  amid  the  brush,  a  distance  of  several  hundred 
yards  from  the  highway,  they  unhitchad  their  horse  and 
left  the  buggy.  The  mare  was  led  a  short  distance  further 
on  and  there  tied  to  a  tree.  Making  their  way  on  into  the 
woods,  the  brothers  soon  came  to  a  house,  where  they  were 
welcomed  by  its  tenant  and  owner  with  a  warmth  that 
showed  them  to  be  in  possession  of  a  friend  in  this  locality 
— one  among  their  many  familiars  residing  in  different  por- 
tions of  the  big  woods.  The  outlaws  partook  of  a  rude 
repast  here,  and  then  prepared  themselves  for  their  journey 


104  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

and  business  below.  Their  belts  were  refastened  over  their 
vests,  so  that  the  ready  revolvers  would  be  handier  to  get 
at,  and  their  Winchesters  were  brought  out  and  examined 
with  a  critical  eye. 

Armed,  truly,  to  the  teeth,  the  Williams  brothers  set  out 
on  foot  for  Durand. 

Milton  Coleman,  under-sheriff  of  Dunn  county,  and 
Charles  Coleman,  an  ex-sheriff  of  Pepin  county,  were 
among  those  officers-  into  whose  hands  the  postal  cards  of 
Sheriff  Anderson,  of  Illinois,  had  fallen,  and  who  had 
formed  the  brave  and  honorable  resolve  to  earn  the  reward 
of  $200  by  personally  effecting  the  arrest  of  the  Maxwell- 
Williams  brothers.  Milton  Coleman  arrived  in  Durand, 
where  his  brother  Charles  resided,  on  Sunday,  July  loth, 
in  charge  of  a  prisoner  named  Walker.  The  man  Walker 
had  been  arrested  early  that  day  in  Wabasha,  Minn.,  hav- 
ing in  his  possession  a  number  of  watches  stolen  from 
Toft's  jewelry  store  in  Menomonieon  the  night  of  July  1st. 
The  jeweler,  Toft,  accompanied  the  officer  in  order  to 
identify  his  property,  and  bore  Under-sheriff  Coleman  and 
his  prisoner  company  on  their  return  to  Menomonie.  They 
reached  Durand  at  about  6  o'clock,  and  it  was  agreed  by 
the  officer  and  the  merchant  that  they  should  stop  for  sup- 
per and  an  hour's  rest. 

At  about  7  o'clock  in  the  evening  several  persons  on  the 
Durand  bank  of  the  Chippewa  descried  a  skiff,  in  which 
were  seated  two  men,  put  forth  from  the  shore  opposite. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  105 

The  prow  of  the  boat  was  turned  toward  a  point  across  the 
Chippewa  just  above  the  village,  and  on  drawing  nearer  its 
two  occupants  were  seen  to  be  armed  with  a  rifle  and  re- 
volvers each.  The  Durand  parties  were  persuaded  that  the 
men  in  the  skiff  were  bent  on  serious  mischief,  and  on  the 
boat's  coming  within  better  sight  one  of  their  number  de- 
clared that  he  recognized  Ed.  and  Lon  Williams.  Before 
leaving  the  skiff,  on  running  it  ashore,  the  two  men  put  on 
false  beards,  very  long  and  black,  and  their  assumption  of 
this  disguise  served  to  confirm  the  belief  of  the  watchers 
on  the  bank  in  their  identity  with  the  twice  outlawed  des- 
peradoes of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin.  The  armed  and  dis- 
guised men  disappeared  in  a  piece  of  timber  on  the  out- 
skirts of  Durand,  while  the  spying  villagers  betook  them- 
selves with  all  haste  to  spread  the  great  news  they  had  to 
tell.  It  was  not  long  before  a  considerable  number  of  peo- 
ple in  Durand  knew  of  the  Williams  brothers'  approaching 
visit  to  the  village.  Strange,  though,  it  was,  that  among 
the  daring  denizens  of  Durand,  with  whom  stories  had  been 
common  of  late  as  to  what  "  Big  I  "  would  do  should  the 
chance  to  make  a  couple  of  hundred  dollars  offer  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  men  wanted,  only  a  few — a  very  and  a 
precious  few — were  to  be  found  on  this  Sunday  evening 
who  showed  any  real  desire  to  meet  the  Williams  brothers 
at  least  half-way,  on  their  manifestation,  in  a  manner,  of  a 
wish  to  be  neighborly.  Those  few  were  Milton  and 
Charles  Coleman,  principally — if  there  were  any  more, 


Io6  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

their  names  are  not  known  ro  tnis  history,  which  aims  but 
to  give  the  impartial  fact.  No  reflection  is  cast,  or  intended 
to  be  cast,  on  the  ordinary  quality  of  bravery  and  usual 
quantity  of  courage  of  the  men  of  Durand,  when  it  is  stated 
that  on  the  Coleman  brothers  making  known  their  inten- 
tion of  meeting  the  Williamses,  they  were  not  called  on  to 
share  the  glory  and  reward  of  an  expedition  "  sore  beset " 
as  this  was.  The  Colemans,  who  laughed  at  the  common 
dread  and  scorned  the  common  fear,  had  not  the  least 
difficulty  about  dissuading  the  more  curious  than  brave  in 
the  small  crowd  congregated  near  the  jail  from  a  purpose 
to  accompany — not  to  assist — them. 

The  officers  made  their  preparations  for  the  encounter  all 
too  hastily  and  with  an  undue  amount  of  "  zeal,  the  blind 
conductor  of  the  will,"  Milton  having  but  a  single  re- 
volver  with  him,  and  Charles  being  unprovided  with  any 
weapon,  a  couple  of  double-barreled  shotguns  and  an  ad- 
ditional pistol  were  borrowed  from  the  first  hands  to  offer 
them.  When  it  was  learned  that  both  barrels  of  each  gun 
were  loaded  with  small  bird  shot,  some  one  had  his  senses 
sufficiently  about  him  to  make  the  suggestion  that  the 
charges  of  small  shot  be  drawn  out  and  duck  shot  substi- 
tuted on  reloading.  Probably  this  would  have  been  done 
had  the  Colemans  dreamed  of  the  danger  they  were  about 
to  run  into  all  at  unawares.  But  they  anticipated  nothing 
of  the  sort. 

"  The  guns  will  do  as  they  are.     We  only  want  them  for 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  107 

company's  sake  anyhow,"  said  Charles  Coleman,who  vouch- 
safed to  explain  further  that  it  was  the  firm  expectation  of 
his  brother  and  himself  to  effect  their  object  without  firing 
a  shot.  The  desperadoes  were  to  be  compelled  to  surren- 
der at  the  discretion  of  "  the  drop. " 

"  Remember  they  are  known  in  Illinois  as  desperate  men," 
spoke  up  Under-sheriff  Knight,  whose  proposition  to  de- 
putize a  large  posse  to  accompany  the  Colemans  had  been 
declined  by  the  latter. 

"  Yes,  we'll  keep  that  in  mind.  We  won't  take  any 
more  chances  than  necessary.  We  know  the  kind  of  game 
we're  after,  and  we  propose  to  bag  it  the  best  way  we  can," 
responded  Milton. 

Thus  the  Coleman  brothers  set  out  upon  their  undertak- 
ing, hazarding  their  lives  upon  what  proved  to  be  a  fatal 
error  in  judgment.  Their  experience  and  fate  recall  the 
words  of  Shakespeare : 

I  see  men's  judgments  are 
A  parcel  of  their  fortunes. 

The  officers  proceeded  toward  the  upper  edge  of  Du- 
rand,  where  the  Williamses  were  expected  shortly  to  ar- 
rive on  emerging  from  the  woods.  Milton  assumed  com- 
mand by  virtue  of  his  office,  with  a  good  second  in  Charles, 
acting  in  the  capacity  of  special  deputy. 

The  Williams  brothers  had  meanwhile  crossed  the  main 
road  at  a  point  where  it  was  skirted  on  both  sides  by  brush 
and  timber,  and  were  directing  their  steps  by  a  circuitous 


io8  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

route  toward  the  town.  A  long  village  street  ran  quite  into 
the  timber  belt,  merging  itself  finally  in  the  principal  high- 
way. The  residence  of  Mr.  Dorchester  fronted  on  this 
street,  and  was  situated  at  a  distance  of  two  hundred  yards 
from  the  main  road.  Behind  the  Dorchester  place  was  a 
patch  of  the  timber  through  which  the  highway  took  its 
course,  and  the  triangular  plot  of  ground  bounded  by  the 
main  road  and  village  street  on  two  sides  and  Dorchester's 
side  fence  and  the  timber  patch  on  the  third  side,  was  cov- 
ered with  sumac  bushes  and  clumps  of  smaller  undergrowth. 
The  outlaws  made  their  way  through  the  timber  behind 
Dorchester's  residence  with  the  evident  intention  of  gaining 
the  village  street  just  beyond.  They  had  entered  the  sumac 
bushes  when  they  heard  the  sounds  of  voices  in  conversa- 
tion and  stopped  to  listen. 

The  voices  were  those  of  the  Coleman  brothers  and  two 
small  lads,  sons  of  Mr.  Dorchester.  The  officers  had 
walked  up  the  street  from  town,  and  had  stopped  in  front 
of  the  Dorchester  place  to  make  inquiries  of  the  boys,  en- 
gaged in  play  within  the  door-yard.  The  little  fellows  had 
seen  nothing  of  the  two  armed  men  described  by  the  Cole- 
mans,  whose  words  were  borne  on  the  still  air  to  the  ears  of 
the  human  hyenas,  lurking  privily  close  by.  The  latter 
heard  enough  to  instantly  conjecture  the  errand  of  the 
officers,  and  their  resolve  to  come  out  and  try  the  issue  of 
the  drop  was  doubtless  due  to  Lon's  determination  not  to 
be  trifled  with  or  thwarted  in  their  prosecution  of  his  plan 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  109 

to  get  even  with  Under-sheriff  Knight.  If  they  could  get 
and  hold  such  an  advantage  of  the  officers  as  to  compel  the 
latter  to  abandon  a  useless  undertaking,  and  allow  them  to 
proceed  without  further  interruption  on  their  way,  why 
then  so  much  the  better.  If  not — they,  at  least,  were  fully 
prepared  to  take  the  chances,  at  whatever  cost  to  innocent 
lives. 

The  Coleman  brothers,  a  bit  undecided  whether  to  go  on 
or  retrace  their  steps,  stood  side  by  side  on  the  walk.  The 
hour  was  about  passing  its  first  quarter  after  eight.  Be- 
tween dusk  and  dark  the  gathering  gloom,  presageful,  en- 
veloped them  as  in  the  shadow  of  the  valley  of  death. 

On  a  sudden  the  Williams  brothers  strode  out  of  the  brush 
and  came  forward. 

Recognition  was  mutual  between  officers  and  outlaws. 

Milton  Coleman,  generous  to  the  fault  of  giving  up  his 
own  life  rather  than  to  take  without  warning  the  life  of 
another,  insisted  upon  the  performance  of  what  he  conceived 
to  be  his  duty,  and  held  out  to  the  Williamses  the  fair 
chance  to  surrender  peaceably. 

"  You  are-my ." 

"  The  word,  "  prisoners,"  was  not  spoken.  He,  upon 
whose  life  the  unfinished  sentence  found  utterance  in  mercy, 
had  said  his  last. 

Four  loud  reports  rang  out  upon  the  stillness  of  the  Sab- 
bath evening.  In  a  cool  head  a  correct  ear  would  have 
distinguished  between  the  sharp  crack  of  a  repeating  rifle 


no  Life  of  Williams  Brothers* 

and  the  explosive  discharge  of  a  shot-gun,  and  noted  that 
two  of  the  shots  were  of  the  former  and  two  of  the  latter  sort. 

Three  more  shots  followed  in  startling  succession.  Of 
these  reports,  but  one  came  from  the  muzzle  of  a  shot-gun. 

Another — "  seven" — and  another — "  eight" — were  count- 
ed. These,  the  last  two  shots,  were  rifle  reports. 

At  the  first  round  Milton  Coleman  fell,  dead,  shot  by 
Lon  Williams  in  the  neck,  the  assassin's  bullet  breaking 
both  branches  of  the  jugular  vein.  The  contents  of  one 
barrel  of  his  gun  had  first  been  discharged.  The  small  shot 
took  effect  mostly  in  the  branches  of  the  one  of  a  row  of 
shade  trees  under  which  Lon  Williams  stood.  A  few  of 
the  shot  grazed  the  desperado's  forehead,  speeding  on  harm- 
lessly, but  a  majority  of  the  bird-balls  pin-holed  the  leaves 
above  his  head.  Had  the  officer's  gun  been  loaded  with 
duck -shot,  a  life  for  a  life  would  have  paid  the  penalty  on 
both  sides  of  an  affray  such  as  this.  Charles  Coleman  fell 
upon  his  knees  with  a  mortal  wound  in  his  left  breast, 
inflicted  by  the  bullet  from  Ed.  Williams'  Winchester.  He 
had  missed  his  human  mark,  and  had  he  hit  it,  the  petty 
pill-dose  could  hardly  have  accomplished  anything 

The  Dorchester  boys  noticed,  despite  their  terror,  that 
while  the  sheriffs  had  drawn  their  guns  up  to  the 
shoulder,  the  desperadoes  had  fired  their  rifles  held  at 
the  hip. 

The  second  round  was  shockingly  one-sided  and  brutal. 
Lon  Williams  put  a  ball  into  the  left  cheek  of  his  slaughtered 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  in 

victim.  Charles  Coleman,  by  an  almost  superhuman 
effort  nerved  himself  to  hold  his  gun  in  position  and  pull  the 
trigger  at  an  aim,  while  in  the  throes  of  his  final  struggle. 
The  dying  officer's  second  shot  struck  the  left  hand  of  his 
murderer,  who  flirted  the  bleeding  fingers  with  an  impatient 
motion,  that  left  traces  of  blood  on  the  fence  and  side-walk 
near  where  he  stood.  Ed.  Williams  fired  his  second  shot 
into  the  prostrate  body  before  him,  which  completed  the 
round. 

The  seventh  and  eighth  shots  were  repeated  rifle  reports, 
being  the  third  and  fourth  times  that  Ed.  Williams,  with 
the  deliberation  of  a  fiend,  fired  at  the  bleeding  corpse  of  the 
man  he  had  massacred. 

The  Williams  brothers  withdrew  from  this  spot  with  the 
blood  of  two  noble  lives  upon  their  heads.  The  commission 
of  this,  their  capital  crime,  had  fixed  from  this  time  on  their 
rank  among  the  deepest-dyed  of  desperadoes. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  CALAMITY  OF  TWO  COMMUNITIES. 

EFFECT   OF   THE    TRAGEDY    IN     DURAND — A    PARALYZED 
PEOPLE STREET  SCENE  THE  NEXT  MORNING. ARRI- 
VAL OF    SHERIFF    PETERSON. SOMETHING  DONE 

AT     LAST. — THE     NEWS     IN     MENOMONIE. — 

CAPT.    DOOLITTLE    HEADS   A   POSSE. — 

THE    REWARDS. 

Parties  at  the  jail  and  on  the  streets  of  Durand,  who  were 
informed  of  the  Coleman  brothers'  movements,  and  of  the 
whereabouts  of  the  Williams  brothers  at  the  same  time, 
instantly  divined  the  cause  of  the  rapid  firing  and  betook 
themselves  to  the  scene,  there  to  have  their  worst  fears  con- 
firmed as  to  the  result  of  a  fatal  encounter.  News  of  the 
terrible  tragedy  was  conveyed  from  mouth  to  mouth  on 
breathless  tongues,  and  an  awful  gloom  "  overspread  the 
minds"  of  all.  Congregations  were  dismissed  without  a 
benediction,  and  dispersed  in  fear  to  their  homes.  The 

(112) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  113 

ousiness  streets  were  deserted,  doors  were  shut  and  locked, 
lights  extinguished,  but  no  one  dared  to  go  to  bed  for  hours. 
A  hush  so  great  and  perfect  had  fallen  on  the  town,  that 
the  air  seemed  doubly  hot  and  close,  and  people  breathed 
hard  and  deep  between  spells  of  intensive  listening  for 
strange  sounds. 

The  bodies  of  the  murdered  men  were  removed  and 
taken  care  of,  though  it  is  related  that  the  effort  required 
to  stay  long  enough  in  personal  proximity  to  the  dread 
spot  to  place  the  bleeding  remains  on  stretchers  seemed 
possible  only  out  of  respect  for  common  decency  and 
humanity. 

Not  a  man  in  the  appalled  and  frightened  town  stirred 
that  night  in  the  important  matter  of  pursuing  and  overtak- 
ing the  murderers.  A  patrol,  it  is  said,  was  established  by 
Under-sheriff  Knight  along  the  river,  but  of  what  earthly 
use  that  was  does  not  appear,  since  the  patrolman  had 
learned  that  the  Williams  brothers  had  recrossed  the  Chip- 
pewa.  It  is  extremely  probable,  if  the  outlaws  had 
known  the  state  of  fear  and  consternation  into  which  the 
villagers  as  a  whole  were  to  be  thrown  by  their  supreme  act 
of  red-handed  deviltry,  that  Lon  Williams  would  riot  have 
left  town  without  paying  his  call  on  and  having  his  satis- 
faction out  of  Under-sheriff  Knight,  whose  visit  to  the  house 
where  his  wife  iay  sick  and  miserable  Lon  could  not  soon 
forget.  Anticipating,  on  the  contrary,  an  immediate  and 
resolute  organization  of  armed  citizens,  determined  to  lose 


n^  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

no  time  in  an  exhaustive  effort  to  effect  their  capture,  the 
Williams  brothers  had  made  for  the  river  with  all  haste. 
Finding  the  ferry  handier  than  their  own  skiff,  they  forced 
the  old  boatman  to  row  them  over  with  his  quickest  strokes. 
Lon,  who  had  pushed  back  his  hat  from  his  wounded  fore- 
head, lost  it  in  his  hurry.  The  hat,  a  soft  black  felt,  medium 
brim,  with  a  double  mourning  band  of  crape,  was  afterwards 
picked  up  and  identified. 

The  next  morning  all  was  hubbub  and  excitement  among 
the  men,  and  women  wrung  their  hands  and  ran  crying 
through  the  streets. 

The  wife  of  Charles  Coleman,  at  the  time  just  recovering 
from  a  severe  sickness,  suffered  a  dangerous  relapse.  She 
was  taken  with  fits  of  the  most  agonizing  description  and 
alarming  character.  The  mother  of  the  Coleman  brothers, 
and  a  married  sister,  who  also  resided  in  Durand,  wer«? 
stricken  with  great  grief  likewise. 

The  arrival  of  Sheriff  Peterson,  who  had  been  summoned 
from  his  farm  at  Stockholm,  put  a  different  and  practical 
aspect  on  the  face  of  affairs.  It  should  be  explained  here 
that  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Pepin  county  is  a  non-pay  ing  one 
to  its  incumbent  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  on 
account  of  the  small  population,  circumscribed  extent,  and 
sparsely  settled  state  of  the  county.  It  is  a  wise  high 
sheriff,  therefore,  who  provides  himself  with  an  outside 
occupation  to  fill  in  his  time  profitably  between  terms  of 
court. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  115 

Sheriff  Peterson  went  to  work  at  once,  and  organized  the 
pursuit  according  to  the  best  of  his  ability  at  the  hour  it  was 
undertaken.  Scouting  parties  were  sent  out  in  different 
directions  through  the  woods,  where  it  was  most  likely  the 
Williamses  would  seek  refuge.  The  sheriff  took  the  field 
in  person  and  remained  there,  on  duty,  until  the  last  liope  of 
a  successful  issue  had  been  abandoned.  Intelligence  of  the 
direful  calamity  which  had  fallen  upon  two  communities,  the 
State,  and  law  and  order,  only  less  than  upon  the  bereft 
mother  and  her  remaining  sons  and  daughters,  a  widowed 
.wife,  fatherless  children,  mourning  relatives  and  dear  friends, 
reached  Menomonie  on  Wednesday  morning.  A  scene 
similar  to  that  previously  described  as  taking  place  at  Du- 
rand,  was  enacted  in  Menomonie.  The  chief  mourners  who 
lived  here  were  the  betrothed  wife  of  Milton  Coleman,  and 
a  married  sister,  widowed,  whose  devotion  to  her  brother 
Charles  had  always  been  especially  marked. 

The  part  performed  by  Sheriff  Peterson  at  Durand,  was 
assigned  by  common  consent  in  Menomonie  to  Capt.  Doo- 
little,  an  ex-sheriff  and  an  officer  of  high  ability.  Doolittle's 
posse  lost  no  time  in  getting  to  the  field.  Provisions  were 
prepared  in  short  order  by  the  noble  women  of  Menomonie, 
whose  bake-ovens  were  kept  taxed  to  their  utmost  by  their 
hands,  anxious  to  render  all  assistance  in  their  power,  until 
a  regular  plan  of  securing  supplies  was  adopted  by  Sheriff 
Severson. 

The  rewards  now  offered  for  the  Williams  brothers  were 
8 


u6  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

as  follows:  By  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  $500;  Dunn  county, 
$500;  Pepin  county,  $500,  and  the  original  reward  of  $200 
offered  for  the  "  Maxwell  brothers,  horse-thieves,"  by  Hen 
derson  county,  Illinois. 

Thus  began  a  pursuit  which,  in  many  respects,  before  its 
close  justly  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  most  remarkable  on 
record. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

A  BIT  OF  BIOGRAPHY. 

SKETCHES  OF  THE  SLAIN. — MILTON  ASA  COLEMAN. — HIS 

LIFE   AND   CHARACTER.  HIS    LOVE.  IN    MEMO- 

RIAM. — CHARLES    G.  COLEMAN.  —  THE  SOLDIER, 
CITIZEN  AND  OFFICER. — A  TOUCHING  INCI- 
DENT  IN   HIS   ARMY   LIFE. 

A  SISTER'S  DEVOTION. 

Milton  Asa  Coleman  was,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  twenty- 
five  years  of  age,  "  as  flush  as  May"  in  the  hopes  of  a  grand 
young  manhood.  Personally  he  was  beloved  by  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  deservedly  so  to  a  degree, 
being  of  exemplary  habits  and  elevated  character  as  a  man, 
and  as  an  officer  all  that  is  comprehended  by  the  three 
words,  "  dutiful,  faithful  and  fearless." 

Milton  was  engaged  to  be  married  but  one  short  month 
later,  to  a  most  charming  and  estimable  young  lady,  Miss 
Rose  Nott,  one  of  the  acknowledged  belles  in  Menomonie's 
best  society.  She,  who  was  "  a  dearer  one  still  and  a  nearer 
one  yet  than  all  other,"  sustained  a  loss  greater  than  the 
bereavement  of  a  community  in  common. 

("7) 


Il8  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

In  a  sketch  of  the  deceased,  published  by  the  Mcnomonie 
Times,  the  following  words  of  tribute  to  his  memory  occur: 

"  Milton  Coleman  was,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-four 
years,  raised  to  the  responsible  position  of  under-sheriff  of 
Dunn  county,  by  Sheriff  Severson,  he  having  previously 
served  nearly  two  years  as  deputy  sheriff  under  ex-Sheriff 
George.  He  was  made  under-sheriff  because  he  had  made 
himself  familiar  with  the  duties  and  powers  of  the  sheriff's 
office,  and  because  of  his  general  intelligence,  sagacity, 
courage  and  integrity.  All  the  people  hailed  his  appoint- 
ment with  approval.  Alas,  they  could  not  look  forward  a 
few  short  months  to  see  him  perish  at  the  hands  of  an 
assassin,  and  it  is  well  they  could  not.  But  it  will  be  long 
before  the  people  of  Dunn  county  forget  the  name  and 
memory  of  the  man  and  officer  who  sacrificed  his  life  in  the 
defense  of  law  and  order.  Milton  was  brought  to  Menom- 
onie  that  he  might  be  buried  amid  those  he  served  so 
faithfully,  and  who  loved  him  so  well.  On  last  Tuesday 
afternoon,  at  5  o'clock,  the  funeral  cortege  from  Durand 
entered  the  streets  of  Menomonie,  with  the  tolling  of  bells, 
silent  business  houses,  and  a  mourning  people  giving  testi- 
mony to  the  swelling  tide  of  woe.  Sunday  morning  he  had 
left  home  full  of  life,  ambition  and  hope !  He  was  brought 
back  and  carried  by  that  home  a  cold  en-coffined  corpse. 
The  remains  were  taken  to  the  court-house  and  placed  in 
the  hall— the  casket  opened,  and  the  people  looked  on  the 
unconscious  face  of  their  defender,  and  then  the  sad  proces- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  119 

sion — the  largest  funeral  procession  ever  seen  in  Menomonie 
— wound  its  way  to  Evergreen  Cemetery,  where  dust  was 
remitted  to  dust,  and  the  grave  hid  from  our  sight  forever 
the  form  and  features  of  Milton  A.  Coleman." 

Charles  G.  Coleman  had  lived  to  be  forty  years  old  when 
struck  down  by  the  assassin's  bullet.  His  had  been  a  battle- 
scarred  existence,  reflecting  high  honor  upon  his  character 
and  conduct  as  a  citizen,  a  soldier  of  the  Union,  and  an 
officer  of  the  law. 

An  interesting  sketch  of  his  life  was  published  in  the 
same  paper  quoted  above,  from  which  the  following  extract 
is  made: 

"  Charles  Coleman  was  among  the  old  settlers,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Pepin  county.  During 
the  war  of  the  Rebellion  he  served  the  country  as  a  volun- 
teer soldier  in  Company  B,  Tenth  Wisconsin  regiment. 
While  in  the  service  he  received  a  shot  in  the  forehead  that 
fractured  his  skull,  and  for  that  injury  he  was  twice 
trepanned.  He  never  recovered  from  the  effect  of  the 
wound,  and  he  retired  from  the  service  to  bear  to  his  grave 
an  honorable  scar,  and  suffer,  ever  and  anon,  the  terrible 
effects  of  epileptic  fits.  But  notwithstanding  this,  four  years 
ago  his  fellow-citizens  elected  him  sheriff  of  Pepin  county, 
and  he  proved  a  most  efficient  officer,  and  vacated  the  office 
at  the  close  of  the  term  to  be  appointed  undersherifF  by  his 
successor  in  office.  His  failing  health  compelled  him  some 
months  ago  to  surrender  the  appointment,  and  the  last  few 


120  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

months  of  his  life  were  passed  without  regular  employment. 
The  feeble  condition  of  his  body,  however,  did  not  prevent 
his  prompt  acceptance  of  Milton's  request  for  assistance  in 
the  prospective  encounter  with  the  criminals  whose  arrest 
was  sought,  and  the  sad  sequel  all  know.  He  leaves  a  wife 
and  several  children,  and  an  humble  homestead  in  the  pleas- 
ant village  of  Durand.  Surely  the  good  people  of  that 
county  will  see  to  it  that  neither  wife  nor  children  of  one 
who  lived  in  their  midst  so  long,  who  served  the  county, 
the  State  and  the  Nation  so  faithfully,  suffer  for  any  of  the 
necessaries  of  life.  An  immense  concourse  of  the  people  of 
Pepin  county  attended  his  funeral — which  was  solemnly 
conducted  with  Masonic  honors — thus  testifying  their  high 
appreciation  of  the  deceased  as  a  man,  a  citizen,  an  officer, 
and  a  maimed  soldier  of  the  Republic,  and  their  profound 
sorrow  for  his  violent  and  premature  death.  It  is  not  for 
us  to  seek  to  lift  the  vail  and  behold  the  sorrow  that  wrings 
the  heart  of  the  iged  mother,  bereft  of  two  such  sons  and  in 
such  a  manner.  In  this  hour  she  may  well  exclaim,  *  Was 
ever  sorrow  like  my  sorrow  ?'  and  we  may  well  give  to  her 
and  to  the  mourning  relatives  our  sympathies  and  our  tears." 
A  touching  incident  in  the  army  life  of  Charles  Coleman, 
related  by  Col.  J.  A.  Watrous,  is  taken  from  the  Dunn 
County  JVeivst  and  will  be  found  to  be  highly  interesting  in 
this  connection.  The  sister  alluded  to  is  Mrs.  S.  J. 
Andrus  of  Menomonie.  The  relator's  words  were  as 
follows : 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  121 

•'  There  is  something  inexpressibly  sad  in  the  reflection 
that  a  man  can  pass  through  such  dangers  as  Coleman  did 
during  the  war  and  then  be  shot  down  by  a  fiendish  mur- 
derer. When  he  enlisted  in  the  Tenth  Wisconsin  his  sister 
made  him  promise  that  if  he  was  wounded  he  would  inform 
her  by  dispatch,  and  that  he  would  have  it  arranged  with  a 
comrade  to  send  her  word  in  case  of  his  death.  '  Twice  a 
week  he  received  a  good,  long,  loving,  sisterly  letter.  At 
the  battle  of  Perryville  he  received  his  bullet  and  was 
reported  dead.  The  next  morning's  paper  had  his  name  in 
the  list  of  the  dead.  The  sister  was  at  Waukesha  when  she 
read  the  list.  In  half  an  hour  after  seeing  the  name  she 
was  on  her  way  to  Perryville.  Reaching  the  field,  she  lost 
no  time  in  entering  upon  a  search  for  the  body  of  her  late 
brother.  All  day  long,  with  eyes  full  of  tears  and  a  heart 
ready  to  break,  she  searched  among  the  dead  and  dying — 
searched  in  vain.  After  dark  she  heard  of  a  hospital  that 
had  not  been  visited.  Going  there,  she  was  informed  that 
he  had  been  mortally  wounded,  was  brought  to  the  hospital 
t\\o  or  three  days  after  the  battle,  and  had  just  died  and  was 
with  the  other  dead,  awaiting  burial.  Alone,  aided  by  the 
flickering  light  of  a  candle,  the  weary,  sad-hearted,  loving 
sister  hunted  among  the  long  rows  of  the  dead  patriots  for 
the  one  most  dear  to  her.  She  was  rewarded ;  and  as  she 
knelt  down  to  kiss  the  white  face,  she  found  that  it  was  still 
warm.  Was  it  possible  that  the  dear  one  was  still  alive? 
Placing  one  hand  over  his  heart  and  with  the  other  holding 


122  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

his  emaciated  wrist,  it  required  but  a  moment  to  convince 
her  that  the  last  spark  of  life  had  not  taken  its  departure — 
that  the  Death  angel  had  not  wafted  his  spirit  to  the  great 
unknown.  In  an  instant  she  flew  to  the  surgeon  and  fairly 
dragged  him  to  the  side  of  the  dying  man.  He  was  tenderly 
conveyed  to  a  tent,  supplied  with  the  most  powerful  stimu- 
lants at  hand,  cared  for  as  only  a  loving  sister,  wife  or 
mother  can  care,  and  the  next  morning  there  were  unmis- 
takable signs  of  returning  consciousness.  Day  after  day  and 
night  after  night  the  sister  remained  at  his  side,  ministering 
to  his  every  want,  and  each  day  witnessed  an  improvement 
in  his  condition.  At  the  end  of  a  month  or  six  weeks  he 
had  so  far  recovered  that  brother  and  sister  started  for  their 
Wisconsin  home.  It  was  many  months  before  the  man 
who  had  been  laid  aside  to  be  buried  was  able  to  walk,  but 
he  finally  recovered  his  strength,  or  most  of  it,  and  it  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  he  was  prevented  from  enlisting 
again  and  returning  to  the  field.  Poor  Coleman  presented 
a  most  remarkable  case  of  recovery  from  a  gunshot  wound, 
for  he  was  unconscious  for  five  days  after  being  shot,  and 
during  three  of  those  days  he  was  alone  on  the  battle-field, 
with  no  care  whatever;  and  when  found  and  taken  to  the 
field  hospital,  his  case  was  considered  so  hopeless  that  he 
was  given  no  food  or  medicine;  nothing  but  a  hasty  bathing 
of  his  shattered  head,  was  given.  The  recovery  seems 
miraculous.  To  that  loving  sister  he  owed  his  life." 

The  murdered  brothers  were  survived  by  two  more  sons 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  123 

of  the  widowed  mother,  Harry  Coleman,  the  junior  of  Mil- 
ton, and  Edward,  whose  age  was  between  that  of  Milton 
and  Charles.  The  remaining  pair  of  brothers  were  promi- 
nent among  the  pursuers  of  the  assassins,  and  ren- 
dered valuable  service,  not  only  at  councils  in  camp,  but  in 
the  performance  of  hard  work  in  the  field. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  BIG  WOODS. 

THE  OUTLAW'S  PARADISE. — THE  WILDS  OF  WISCONSIN. — 
TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POETRY.  —  WIERD  SCENIC  BEAU- 
TIES.—  THE    ROADS. — POOR    FARMERS.  —  EVIL 
CHARACTERS. — FLYING    RUMORS. — WHERE 
THE  WILLIAMSES    WERE  "SEEN" 
DURING   ONE    WEEK. 

The  fugitive  from  justice  who  could  not  be  satisfied  with 
the  asylum  afforded  by  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin  would  be 
hard  to  please  and  might  be  termed  an  Oliver  Twist  among 
outlaws. 

The  "  big  woods  "  begin  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  are  brought  to  an  end  upon  the  shores  of  Superior.  In 
extent  they  vary  from  ten  to  twenty-five  miles  in  width, 
and  have  a  running  length  of  perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles.  The  topographer  assigned  to  the  pains-taking  sur- 
vey demanded  by  his  science  would  meet  with  untold  dis- 
couragements in  a  surface,  which  to  poet  and  painter  would 
present  a  picturesqueness  and  possess  a  charm  indescribable 

if  not  unknown  to  others. 

(124) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  125 

Bold  bluffs,  crowned  with  chaplets  of  tall  timber,  suc- 
ceeded one  another,  broken  in  piece-meal  in  places  where 
the  force  and  fury  of  the  storm  had  angrily  been  spent 
anent  the  earth.  The  sides  of  the  ridges  were  covered  with 
a  thick  growth  of  miscellaneous  timber  and  tangly  brush. 
Here  were  ravines,  choked  up  with  an  impenetrable  mass 
of  scrubby  forest  vegetals.  There,  great  coolies,  clothed 
in  the  green  garb  of  the  wild-wood,  where  paths  are  track- 
less when  the  leaves  fall  among  the  natural  brush  heaps. 
Rock  deposits  were  traceable  at  frequent  intervals.  In  lo- 
calities stony  sided  chasms  would  yawn  forth  frowningly. 
At  their  mouths  these  fissures  would  sometimes  be  seen  to 
recede  into  caves,  running  back  into  the  earth  from  one  to 
two  hundred  yards.  Streams  of  all  sorts  in  size  from  the 
tiny  brooklet  of  Longfellow  to  what  were  called  creeks 
or  rivers,  take  their  serpentine  paths  in  and  about  the  valleys, 
at  the  feet  of  high  hills.  Springs  in  refreshing  plenty  come 
bubbling  up  whithersoever  they  will  out  of  the  fulness  of 
Nature's  bosom — delighting  the  most  where  their  dancing 
waters  burst  forth  through  rocky  ledges,  forming  crystal 
cascades  as  they  fall. 

To  relieve  the  solitude,  clearings  for  farms  which  are 
tilled  with  toil  and  trouble,  occasionally  peer  out,  a  more 
than  welcome  sight  to  benighted  travelers  seeking  signs  of 
civilization.  For  the  most  part  the  roads  through  this  re- 
gion are  as  bad  as  the  character,  generally  speaking,  of  its 
inhabitants.  New  roads  are  made,  under  compulsion  and 


126  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

after  a  fashion,  where  old  ones  on  being  storm-ravaged  have 
disappeared  in  crumbling  ruins  of  rock  and  earth.  The 
streams  are  forded  often-times  perforce,  where  the  rude 
timbers  of  log  bridges  have  been  torn  asunder  by  the  flood 
and  such  of  the  debris  as  freshets  have  not  carried  away  re- 
main to  mark  the  spot. 

Following  a  zig-zag  course,  up  and  down  hill,  sometimes 
directly  ascending  or  decending  the  sharp  elevations,  at 
others  winding  about  and  around,  hugging  the  steep  sides, 
the  traveled  road  frequently  becomes  hardly  less  impassa- 
ble than  the  thickets  themselves. 

The  dense  shade  in  the  heart  of  the  forest  effectually  re- 
pels the  direct  influence  of  the  sun.  Riding  through  the 
woods  if  one  is  so  fortunate  as  to  approach  the  edge  of  a 
clearing  at  sunset,  he  will  see  in  tha  gold-and-crimson  col- 
oring given  the  leaves  and  the  illumination  carried  a  little 
distance  into  the  oppressive  gloom  by  the  last  rays  of  the 
sun-blazoned  beams — a  sight  to  feast  upon. 

Raising  small  crops  of  wheat,  corn,  oats  and  hay  among 
the  stumps  in  one  of  the  clearings,  which  like  oases  appear 
now  and  then  in  the  big  woods,  is  farming  under  difficulties, 
and  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  poor  living  in  this  instance 
determines  the  poor  farmer.  With  some  exceptions,  the 
farmers  in  these  wilds  are  of  this  description, — "  not  much 
account."  Then  there  reside  in  log  cabins,  on  the  wooded 
land,  another  class,  less  in  estate  but  advanced  in  general 
cussedness,  from  whose  combined  poverty  and  prowling 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  127 

instincts,  travelers  with  money  on  their  persons  in  these 
parts  after  nightfall  have  much  to  fear. 

Rumors  that  the  Williamses  had  "been  seen"  in  dif- 
ferent neighborhoods  and  by  various  parties,  began  to 
come  in  before  noon  on  the  first  day  of  the  pursuit,  and 
speedily  got  to  flying  so  thick  and  fast  that  it  became 
impossible  for  the  authorities  to  distinguish  between 
the  confusing  and  conflicting  rumors  without  end.  It 
will  prove  interesting  to  review  these  reports  in  the 
order  they  came,  for  the  first  week. 

The  next  (Monday)  morning  after  the  murder,  about 
nine  o'clock,  while  a  Mrs.  Pericol  and  her  little  boy  were 
walking  along  the  road,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Eau  Galle 
river  on  their  way  to  Carson  &  Rand's  store  at  Eau  Galle 
to  trade,  and  when  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  the 
store,  two  men  came  up  the  bank  from  the  river,  into  the 
road.  On  seeing  her,  one  of  them  jumped  into  the  bushes 
by  the  roadside,  and  the  other  walked  slowly  along  until 
she  and  her  boy  passed  them.  The  latter  was  carrying  two 
guns,  but  she  could  not  tell  whether  the  one  in  the  bushes 
had  a  gun  or  not.  Mrs.  Pericol  did  not  know  of  the 
tragedy  the  night  before,  and  heard  it  for  the  first  time  when 
she  reached  the  store.  She  then  told  her  story  about  the 
two  men  she  had  met,  and  her  description  of  them  answered 
to  the  appearance  of  the  Williams  brothers.  Word  was  at 
once  sent  to  Durand,  but  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  before 
a  posse  reached  Eau  Galle,  and  the  probable  course  of 


J28  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

the  murderers — for  they  it  was — could  only  be  conjectured. 

On  Monday  evening,  at  about  seven  o'clock,  two  men, 
armed  with  guns,  were  seen  by  a  young  man  at  the  ford 
three  miles  above  Eau  Galle.  An  hour  later  two  armed 
men  passed  four  German  boys  from  Durand  on  the  road 
about  four  miles  above  Eau  Galle. 

On  the  same  evening,  at  about  half-past  ten  o'clock,  a 
guard  stationed  by  Sheriff  Peterson  in  an  old  school-house 
near  the  mouth  of  Knight's  creek — the  very  building  where 
the  Williams  brothers  had  more  than  once  established  head- 
quarters on  their  expeditions — saw  two  men  come  out  of 
the  brush  and  approach  the  house.  Three  of  the  four  guards 
were  positive  that  they  recognized  the  Williams  brothers, 
whose  faces  they  saw  in  the  moonlight,  and  who  carried 
rifles  in  their  hands.  Dr.  J.  R.  Branch  was  in  command  of 
the  squad,  and  instead  of  taking  the  advantage  of  a  position, 
"bold  in  close  ambush,"  and  letting  the  outlaws  get  within 
reach,  he  blazed  away  with  a  revolver,  whereat  the  Wil- 
liamses — if  they  it  was — dropped  to  the  ground  and  regained 
the  cover  of  the  thicket. 

On  Tuesday  afternoon,  two  men  were  seen  in  the  bushes 
by  a  woman  who  was  picking  berries  in  the  vicinity  of  Pine 
Tavern. 

On  Wednesday,  on  Thursday  and  on  Friday,  the  reports 
of  different  persons  at  different  places  who  were  privileged 
to  see  the  outlaws  without  endangering  themselves,  agreed 
in  their  material  and  meagre  points.  It  had  now  got  to  be 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  129 

the  case  that  the  sight  of  two  armed  men  anywhere  in  the 
woods  promptly  "  settled  it,"  so  far  as  a  fresh  rumor  about 
somebody's  having  seen  the  Williams  brothers,  who  were, 
moreover,  recognized  as  a  rule  by  persons  who  had  never 
had  the  slightest  previous  acquaintance  with  so  much  as  a 
photograph  of  either  Ed.  or  Lon. 

On  Saturday  morning,  two  men  were  seen  by  John 
Adsit,  entering  the  woods  near  Jack  Allen's  place  near 
Waubeek,  and  on  the  same  night  at  the  hour  "when 
churchyards  yawn"  and  a  person's  imagination  plays  hob 
with  his  fears,  two  armed  men,  believed  to  be  though  not 
accosted  as  the  Williams  brothers,  were  seen  crossing  a  field, 
in  the  same  neighborhood,  by  a  young  German. 

The  horse  which  the  outlaws  had  tied  to  a  tree,  had  been 
left  by  them  to  starve,  owing  to  the  new  complication  of 
their  affairs.  The  brown  mare  was  fastened  with  two 
halter  straps,  and  had  evidently  been  without  anything  to 
eat  or  drink  for  several  days,  when  it  was  found  and  rescued 
from  a  cruel  death  by  one  of  Sheriff  Peterson's  scouting 
parties.  The  buggy  was  found  near  by  where  its  last 
occupants  had  left  it. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
IN  HOT  PURSUIT. 

BRAVE  MEN  BROUGHT  TO  FAME. — SHERIFF  PETERSON  IN 
THE  KIND  HANDS  OF  "THE  CHICAGO  TIMES "  CORRES- 
PONDENT.— ELDER  DONNER'S  THIRD  SERVICE. — 
PROGRESS  OF  THE   PURSUIT. — REVIEW   OP 
DOOLITTLE'S  CAMPAIGN. — NEWSPAPER 
ACCOUNTS. — A  "PIONEER  PRESS  RE 
PORTER'S  SUMMARY. — "  ARE 
THEY  IN  THE  WOODS?" 

The  pursuit  of  the  Williams  brothers,  while  it  was  strictly 
speaking  and  despite  the  thrilling  interest  centered  in  its 
every  incident  barren  of  results,  served  to  introduce  to 
something  more  than  local  fame  a  number  of  brave  men 
who  distinguished  themselves  by  the  ardor  and  ability  by 
which  their  connection  with  the  chase  was  marked  through- 
out. The  names  of  these  new  "  aspirants  for  applause, " 
the  which,  let  it  be  said,  they  neither  sought  nor  particu- 
larly cared  for,  will  duly  appear  in  the  pages  to  follow  de- 
scriptive of  the  progress  of  the  pursuit.  Prominent  among 
them  stands  A.  F.  Peterson,  sheriff  of  Pepin  county,  in 
whose  case  the  exceptional  distinction  is  made  of  prefacing, 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  131 

here,  the  account  of  his  part  on  the  field  of  duty  and  action, 
for  reasons  that  are  left  to  unfold  themselves  to  the  reader. 
The  Chicago  Times  correspondent  on  the  ground  had  oc- 
casion and  sought  opportunity  to  become  well  acquainted 
with  this  officer  and  gentleman  and  his  characteristic  opinion 
of  the  individual  in  both  capacities  is  gladly  made  use  of  in 
this  connection. 

"  Sheriff  Peterson  is  a  man  with  whom  an  acquaintance 
cannot  be  had  in  an  hour,  and  for  whom  a  friendship  is 
something  to  be  cultivated — let  me  add,  something,  I  am 
assured,  that  will  richly  repay  careful  cultivation.  I  was 
unusually  impressed  on  the  start  with  his  personal  appear- 
ance an  1  carriage.  He  stands  a  trifle  above  medium  height, 
is  well  built,  has  broad  and  square  shoulders,  and  for  being 
firm  and  erect  on  his  feet  is  not,  as  so  many  similarly  built 
men  are,  without  a  graceful  stature  and  step.  His  fair  face, 
full  featured,  is  smooth  shaven,  and  with  blue  eyes  and  short 
curling  hair  of  a  light  shade  next  to  golden,  unmistakably 
proclaim  the  Swedish  parentage  of  which  he  may  properly 
enough  be  proud.  He  was  only  twenty-five  years  of  age 
when  his  fellow  Republicans  honored  themselves  by  nomi- 
nating him  for  the  office  of  Sheriff,  to  which  his  fellow  citi- 
zens of  Pepin  county  elected  him  by  a  handsome  majority. 
The  duties  of  the  sheriff  of  Pepin  county  are  very  light, 
ordinarily,  and  mostly  of  a  civil  character,  performed  during 
the  terms  of  court.  At  other  times  the  sheriff  is  expected 
to  provide  himself  with  private  employment.  Sheriff  Pe- 
' 


132  Life  of    Williams  Brothers. 

terson,  who  is  yet  unmarried,  unfortunately  for  himself  and 
another — a  fair  unknown — resides  between  the  times  of 
holding  court  in  Durand,  with  his  parents  on  his  father's 
farm,  situated  on  a  pretty  spot  at  Stockholm,  on  the  shore 
of  Lake  Pepin.  What  I  regard  about  him  and  see  in  him 
as  exciting  the  greatest  interest  and  worthy  the  highest  ad- 
miration is  the  fact  and  the  manner  of  the  development 
within  him  of  the  personal  force  and  executive  ability 
needed  in  one  in  his  position  for  the  emergency  which  had 
on  a  sudden  and  unexpectedly  arisen  before  him.  Courage, 
sound  sense,  proper  reserve,  and  excellent  discretion  plainly 
have  been  his  from  youth.  Experience  as  an  officer  of  the 
law,  and  familiarity  with  its  execution  and  the  ways  of  evil- 
doers, he  was  without,  his  selection  as  a  candidate  for  sher- 
iff being  based  solely  on  his  personal  character  and  bravery. 
An  opportunity  had  thus  offered  itself,  for  the  first  time, 
for  him  to  comprehend  and  grasp,  if  he  could,  the  widest 
possible  range  of  what  were  the  duties,  the  dangers,  the 
responsibilities  and  the  cares  of  his  office.  That  he  proved 
himself  to  be  equal  to  the  occasion,  is  attested  most  conclu- 
sively, in  my  judgment,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  has 
conducted  himself  and  managed  his  part  of  the  pursuit." 

The  posse  raised  by  little  Pepin  county  to  assist  its  sher- 
iff was  a  small  one,  after  the  first  few  days  of  more  intense 
excitement  were  over,  and  Sheriff  Peterson  made  the  most 
of  his  men  by  distributing  them  into  small  squads  which 
were  scattered  through  the  woods  between  Durand  and  Eau 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  133 

Galle  and  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  latter  place.  Under- 
sheriff  Knight  was  left  at  Durand  in  charge  of  the  sheriff's 
office  and  entrusted  with  the  important  duty  of  superintend- 
ing the  arrangments  for  victualing  the  forces  in  the  field. 
Sheriff  Peterson  divided  his  time  between  the  temporary 
camping-places  of  the  parties  on  picket  and  guard  duty, 
until  placed  by  the  Governor  in  command  of  the  force  con- 
tributed to  the  body  of  pursuers  by  the  State. 

The  number  of  men  under  Capt.  Doolittle,  of  Menomo- 
nie,  varied  during  the  first  two  weeks  of  the  pursuit,  from 
three  hundred  to  thirty.  Owing  to  superiority  of  numbers, 
and  supposed  proximity  of  position  to  the  lair  of  the  human 
game  being  hunted  down,  Doolittle's  company  was 
expected  to  do  the  most  in  the  field,  and  its  movements 
were  accordingly  watched  with  the  closest  attention  and 
interest.  Sheriff  Severson  remained  in  Menomonie,  where 
private  business  interests  detained  him,  in  charge  of  the 
commissariat,  and  saw  that  the  brave  men  comprising  Doo- 
little's command  were  kept  well  supplied  with  provisions. 
The  untiring  attention  shown  by  him  to  their  needs  was 
fully  appreciated  by  the  members  of  the  different  camps 
established  by  Capt.  Doolittle. 

Foremost  among  prominent  citizens  to  join  Capt.  Doo- 
little was  Elder  Donner.  He  had  watched  Lon  Williams' 
career  at  Hersey  and  Knapp,  and  rejoiced  to  see  the  progress 
in  the  right  direction  of  one  who  seemed  to  him  to  be  an 
industrious  and  upright  young  man.  He  had  known  Fanny 


134.  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

Hussey  and  her  parents  for  years,  and  when   called  on  to 
unite  the  young  people,  in  every   way   so  worthy   of  each 
other,  he  had   pronounced   his   fervent   blessing  under  the 
approving  smiles  of  Heaven.     He  had  observed  with  great 
pain  and  keen   disappointment   the   blasting   of  fair  young 
hope,  and  had  officiated  at  the  funeral  of  a  broken-hearted 
young  wife  and  mother.     Two  services   in   his   ministerial 
character   had   he   performed.     A  third   was   one  that  he 
had  been  brought  to  do,  however  much  against   his  heart, 
by  his  own  convictions  of  right  and  sense   of  justice.     He 
felt  that  the  third  service  was  due  to  society,  to   law  and  to 
order,  and  with  a  sad  heart  and  reluctant  spirit  Elder  Don- 
ner  shouldered  his  rifle  and   went  out   to   hunt   down  Lon 
Williams — the  young  man  he  had  befriended,  whom  he  had 
married,  whose  wife  he  had  laid  away  to  an  eternal  rest  by 
the  side  of  the  babe  that  had  come  into  the  world  not  of  it. 
The  elder   was  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  best  shots   in  the 
State.     When  asked  if  he  would   shoot  Lon   Williams,  he 
replied  that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  do  his  duty,  and  that 
he  would  feel  it  his  duty  to  protect  both  himself  and  society 
by  shooting  any  one  who  had  voluntarily  put  himself  in  an 
outlaw's  place  such  as  Lon  had  done,  in   the  event  it  came 
to    close   quarters.     Elder   Donner   remained   in  the   field 
several  weeks.     It  is  not  unlikely   that  he  returned  from  a 
fruitless  pursuit  convinced  that  inasmuch  as  he  had  bravely 
done  his  duty,  it  was  no  sin  in  him  to  experience  a  strange 
sense  of  relief  to  have  been  spared  a  terrible  trial. 


Tl 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  135 


The  progress  of  the  campaign  underwent  by  the  Doolittle 
party,  can  be  followed  best  by  a  perusal  of  extracts  taken 
from  newspaper  articles  published  at  the  time. 

Reviewing  the  work  performed  with  signal  ability  and 
clear-headedness  by  Capt.  Doolittle  during  the  first  fort- 
night, the  Dunn  County  Nevus  says: 

"  The  pursuit  of  the  Williams  desperadoes  has  been 
vigorously  pushed  during  the  past  two  weeks,  but  thus  far  the 
chase  has  been  fruitless.  There  is  every  indication  that  they 
are  still  in  the  woods  along  the  Little  Missouri  creek  west 
of  Eau  Galle.  Sheriff  Doolittle,  who  started  out  with  the 
first  squad  the  next  day  after  the  murder,  has  been  in  com- 
mand of  the  pursuing  party  ever  since,  and  the  number 
engaged  in  the  hunt  has  ranged  from  twenty-five  to  several 
hundred  well-armed  men.  The  section  of  country  to  which 
the  party  have  mainly  devoted  their  attention  is  along  the 
Eau  Galle  river,  and  Little  Missouri  and  Knights'  creeks, 
its  tributaries.  All  the  region  between  these  points  and  as 
far  west  as  Maple  Springs  has  been  as  thoroughly  patrolled 
as  the  nature  of  the  country  would  permit.  Early  in  the 
chase  Mr.  Doolittle  established  a  camp  at  the  school-house 
near  the  mouth  of  Knights  creek,  and  placed  Capt.  Dan. 
Harshman  in  charge.  Another  was  established  at  a  desert- 
ed mill  on  Little  Missouri  creek,  about  six  miles  south  of 
the  Knights'  creek  camp,  in  charge  of  Capt.  Frank  Kelley. 
The  headquarters  were  at  Eau  Galle  mills  between  the  two 
camps.  From  these  points  scouting  parties  were  sent  every 


I36  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

day  to  find  some  trace  of  the  fugitives.  At  night  pickets 
were  placed  at  various  points  to  keep  a  constant  watch  of 
roads  and  paths.  Whenever  any  report  came  in  that  was 
deemed  reliable,  a  posse  of  men  would  be  sent  to  investigate 
it  with  all  possible  haste.  In  this  manner  the  hunt  has  been 
kept  up  nearly  two  weeks." 

The  Pioneer-Press,  an  excellent  paper  printed  at  St. 
Paul  for  the  joint  benefit  of  that  "  Little  Giant"  among 
cities  of  the  future  and  its  twin  sister,  Minneapolis,  had  an 
expert  correspondent  in  the  field  at  an  early  day.  His 
review  of  the  principal  ground  covered  by  Capt.  Doolittle's 
forces,  will  afford  the  reader  an  excellent  synopsis  of  events 
in  this  connection.  Under  date  of  July  2ist,  the  Pioneer- 
Press  man  writes  from  the  front  as  follows: 

"  I  cannot  imagine  a  country  better  suited  for  a  hiding 
place,  or  one  that  presents  so  many  difficulties  to  the  pur- 
suers. The  surface  is  a  constant  succession  of  hill  and  bluffs, 
broken  by  deep,  dark  ravines,  and  coolies,  with  creeks  and 
brooks  running  in  every  direction,  some  dashing  over 
ragged  rocks,  and  others  flowing  placidly  beneath  the  over- 
lapping trees.  The  entire  region,  with  the  exception  of 
the  openings  redeemed  for  farms  at  an  immense  cost  of 
labor  and  patience,  is  covered  with  a  thick,  ragged  growth 
of  trees  and  underbrush,  in  some  places  so  close  and  inter- 
woven that  it  would  seem  impossible  for  even  a  squirrel  to 
make  its  way  through.  Such  a  brush  country  affords  a 
perfect  shelter  for  men  like  these  desperadoes,  who  are 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  137 

skilled  in  wood-craft  and  have  long  been  familiar  with  the 
intricacies  of  the  trails  and  the  gloomy  secrecy  of  the  innu- 
merable ravines.  Those  best  acquainted  with  the  country 
acknowledge  the  hopelessness  of  rinding  these  two  alert 
men,  who  are  seeking  to  save  themselves  from  the  terrible 
fate  which  they  know  awaits  them  if  captured,  and  they 
can  only  be  secured  by  some  providential  accident,  as  was 
the  Younger  brothers'  gang.  There  are  fewer  chances  of 
taking  these  red-handed  brothers  than  there  were  of  catch- 
ing the  Youngers,  as  this  country  is  more  difficult  to  hunt, 
and  the  fugitives  are  as  much  at  home  in  the  jungle  and 
timber  as  a  Pioneer-Press  reporter  is  in  the  streets  of  St. 
Paul,  while  besides  the  Williams  boys  undoubtedly  have 
sympathizers  and  friends  throughout  this  section.  Some 
will  extend  them  aid  through  friendship,  while  others  will 
assist  through  fear.  The  Youngers  were  utter  strangers  in 
an  utterly  strange  land.  It  is  impossible  to  march  a  picket 
line  through  these  woods  with  any  hope  of  their  keeping 
their  positions.  It  cannot  be  a  still-hunt,  as  the  obstacles 
met  would  necessitate  a  series  of  signals,  in  order  that  the 
men  might  know  the  positions  of  each  other.  A  line  of  men 
five  feet  apart  would,  in  the  greater  part  of  these  woods,  be 
completely  concealed  from  the  right  or  left  guides.  In  the 
confusion  and  displacement,  the  murderers  could  easily  slip 
through,  and  make  good  their  escape  in  an  opposite  direction, 
or  they  could  flank  the  slow-moving  line,  and  obtain  the 
same  result.  The  pursuit  has,  undoubtedly,  been  as  thorough 


138  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

as  possible  thus  far,  and  it  is  obvious  that,  wVille  diligent 
watch  must  be  continued,  some  other  method  must  be 
adopted  to  insure  success,  or  else  an  accident  must  be  relied 
upon.  I  believe  in  the  latter.  Bloodhounds  will  be  useless, 
or  nearly  so,  as  there  is  no  fresh  trail  to  start  them  on,  and 
no  scent  to  give  them.  It  has  been  suggested  that  Lon 
Williams'  hat,  which  he  left  at  Durand,  might  prove  suffici- 
ent for  the  intelligent  hounds;  but,  as  the  hat  has  been 
handled  by  at  least  a  thousand  people,  the  experiment  would 
prove  futile,  and  perhaps  dangerous.  Indian  scouts,  if  any 
were  available,  might  prove  useful  with  their  tracking 
instincts,  especially  as  it  is  known  that  Lon  is  wearing  either 
a  moccasin  or  old  rubber  overshoe  on  his  left  foot,  which  he 
cut  severely,  at  Hersey  where  he  chopped  wood  last  winter, 
injuring  the  large  toe  so  much  that  it  was  amputated,  and 
the  wound  is  badly  healed.  The  hunt  is  now  being  con- 
ducted under  the  charge  of  ex-Sheriff  Doolittle  of  Menomo- 
nie,  who  has  the  reputation  of  always  getting  his  man. 
There  were  at  least  300  engaged  in  the  search  at  first,  but 
the  number  is  now  reduced  to  not  more  than  fifty — that  is, 
in  the  Doolittle  party.  These  men  can  do  but  little  more 
than  picket  duty,  several  squads  relieving  each  other,  but 
occasionally  parties  will  sally  out  and  make  a  search, 
generally  following  the  direction  indicated  by  some  rumor. 
At  times  the  discharge  of  firearms  will  be  heard,  when  a 
rush  will  be  made  for  the  point  from  which  the  shot  pro- 
ceeded. It  is  invariably  learned,  after  a  tiresome  search,  that 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  139 

some  foolish  party  has  been  firing  at  a  squirrel  or  a  bird. 
Such  a  case  occurred  this  morning  when  two  men  driving 
through  the  woods  in  a  buggy  fired  five  shots  near  the 
lower,  or  Little  Missouri  camp  just  for  fun,  causing  thorough 
demoralization.  The  men  who  were  sleeping  after  a  night's 
vigil  were  aroused,  and  hastened  out,  equipping  themselves 
as  they  ran.  Pickets  on  duty  deserted  their  posts  to  join 
the  fight,  and  hours  were  spent  in  a  search,  of  course  fruit- 
less. 

To-day  has  been  the  most  unpleasant  of  the  season,  and 
my  trip  of  course  anything  but  pleasant,  made  as  it  was 
over  more  than  forty  miles  of  heavy,  hilly,  muddy  roads, 
in  a  loaded  wagon,  and  through  a  rain,  sometimes  drizzling 
and  again  pouring.  We  left  Menomonie  with  a  load  of 
provisions  for  the  camps.  The  most  of  our  route  lay 
through  forests,  by  narrow  roads  where  two  teams  could 
scarcely  pass.  We  saw  but  few  frame  houses,  the  farmers 
still  occupying  the  primitive  log  cabin,  but  in  most  all  cases 
having  fine,  large  barns  and  good  corn  cribs  and  other  farm 
buildings.  After  riding  about  four  hours  we  reached  the 
town  of  Eau  Galle,  a  place  where  much  lumber  is  sawed. 
Mr.  Carson,  who  now  lives  on  Summit  avenue,  St.  Paul,  is 
the  proprietor  of  the  mills  here,  and  I  was  quite  interested 
in  viewing  the  wildly  romantic  spot  in  which  he  had  lived 
for  nearly  forty  years.  The  mansion  he  occupied  is  of  rustic 
style,  and  stands  in  a  fine  garden,  and  by  its  side  is  a  little 
one-story  house,  the  first  ever  erected  in  these  wilds,  and 


140  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

which  Mr.  Carson  built  in  his  earlier  manhood.  At  Eau 
Galle  we  left  a  portion  of  our  provisions,  reserving  the 
remainder  for  the  camp  at  the  mill  on  Little  Missouri  river, 
three  miles  below.  This  camp  is  situated  in  a  most 
picturesque  spot,  the  little  creek  broadening  out  into  a 
spacious  meadow  pond,  while  all  around  wooded  bluffs  arise 
to  quite  lofty  heights.  The  mill,  whose  saws  and  stones 
have  long  been  silent,  stands  dark  and  gloomy  under  the 
shadow  of  a  high  hill  covered  with  brush  and  timber.  The 
mill  is  completely  equipped  and  ready  to  start  on  its  work 
the  moment  power  is  applied,  but  twice  the  angry  waters 
have  rushed  down  the  ravine  and  swept  away  the  dam, 
leaving  the  mill  useless,  the  property  valueless.  I  found 
about  a  dozen  men  here,  all  glad  to  see  us,  and  I  gladly 
partook  of  their  hospitality,  in  the  shape  of  black  coffee, 
graham  bread  and  salt  pork.  It  was  a  delicious  feast  after 
my  tedious  ride.  Hay  and  blankets  deposited  along  the 
floor  served  as  beds,  a  few  rough  boards  answered  for  the 
banquetting  table,  and  a  concealed  hole  in  the  bluff  outside 
was  used  as  a  kitchen  where  a  fire  for  making  the  coffee 
and  cooking  the  pork  was  made.  I  spent  some  time  with 
Capt.  Scribner,  who  was  in  command  here,  and  I  am  satis- 
fied that  he  is  doing  faithful  work. 

********* 

Returning  to  Eau  Galle  we  loaded  a  quantity  of  provis- 
ions and  proceeded  by  a  narrow  road  through  a  dense 
forest  to  the  school-house  camp,  about  six  miles  distant. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  141 

Fording  creeks  and  picking  our  way  among  the  blackened, 
decayed  stumps,  with  the  rain  sifting  through  the  trees 
above  us,  we,  after  a  slow,  dark  ride,  came  out  into  a  spot 
which  had  been  partially  cleared,  and  discovered  A  dilapi- 
dated little  log  hut,  a  good  sized  wall  tent,  and  several 
smaller  tents  grouped  together  and  forming  the  upper  camp. 

Our  reception  here  was  also  hearty. 

*  *  *  *          *          *          « 

Starting  from  the  school-house  camp,  we  made  our  way, 
with  Harry  Coleman  as  a  guide,  to  the  new  camp.  It  was 
at  least  seven  miles,  and  in  a  country  twice  as  difficult  to 
hunt  as  any  I  had  seen.  The  wooded  bluffs  were  closer 
together.  The  ravines  were  more  numerous  and  the  thickets 
thicker.  We  would  drive  along  a  trail,  so  rough  that  the 
bumps  would  renew  the  soreness  in  our  backs,  and  on  each 
hand  would  be  ravines  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  deep,  where 
a  fugitive  might  hide,  and  calmly  view  his  pursuers  without 
fear  of  being  seen.  We  would  pass  open  places  where  a 
thousand  men  might  find  shelter  behind  the  black,  burned 
logs  and  stumps,  and  innumerable  deserted  log  huts  where 
two  determined  men  could,  with  plenty  of  ammunition, 
hold  a  score  of  men  at  bay.  There  were  river  bottoms  con- 
cealed beneath  overhanging  trees,  high  bluffs  with  deep 
caves  at  their  bases,  great  boulders  behind  which  a  score  of 
men  might  hide,  thickets  impenetrable,  and  tall  trees 
unscalable.  How  can  you  hunt  men  in  such  a  place  ?  The 
pursued  are  alert.  They  are  sure  to  have  the  drop  on  their 


142  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

pursuers.  And  the  men  we  were  after  are  desperate.  These 
fellows  have  a  method :  they  travel  on  the  crests  of  the 
bluffs,  one  on  each  side,  and  they  overlook  their  pursuers. 
I  tried  to  trace  some  rumors,  but  in  every  case  I  found  that 
those  who  had  supposed  they  had  seen  the  murderers  were 
not  certain,  and  I  feared  lest  some  of  them  might  identity 
me  with  the  desperate  outlaws  and  bring  a  squad  of  anxious 
men  to  shoot  me  on  sight.  One  woman  was  sure  she  had 
seen  the  Williams  boys,  because  one  of  two  men  who  came 
near  her  house  had  a  bandage  on  his  head.  I  afterwards  met 
two  anglers,  who  were  fishing  in  a  trout  stream  near  by, 
and  one  had  his  head  tied  up,  a  wasp  having  stung  his  fore- 
head. So  the  stories  go.  The  new  camp  is  in  a  romantic 
valley  about  eighty  rods  wide,  where  several  fine  claims 
have  been  deserted  owing  to  the  floods  of  1879  and  1880. 
*  *  *  ***** 

We  reached  Menomonie  on  our  return,  that  night  after  a 
long,  dark  ride,  and  as  I  sit  down  to  think  the  matter  over, 
after  talking  with  a  host  of  people,  I  am  undecided  whether 
the  murderers  are  in  those  woods  or  not." 

The  perplexity  of  the  Pioneer-Press  reporter,  it  may  be 
added,  was  shared  by  a  great  many  others  at  this  time. 

A  serious  accident  which  befell  one  of  the  Menomonie 
volunteers  under  Capt.  Doolittle,  remains  to  be  recorded 
in  this  connection.  While  on  his  way  to  the  woods  in  a 
wagon,  Mr.  Kelley  Nott,  a  brother  of  the  young  lady 
betrothed  to  Milton  Coleman,  had  the  misfortune  to  acci- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  143 

dently  cause  the  discharge  of  his  gun,  the  muzzle  of  which 
rested  against  his  arm.  The  gun  was  a  cavalryman's  car- 
bine, and  its  ball  made  an  ugly  wound,  penetrating  the 
fleshy  part  of  the  arm  above  the  elbow  and  coming  out  at  a 
point  just  below  the  shoulder  blade.  Mr.  Nott's  suffering 
was  intense  for  weeks,  and  the  loving  care  of  a  devoted 
wife,  mother  and  sister  was  unremittingly  exercised  in  his 
behalf. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  LUDi'.GTON  GUARD. 

THE    ATTENTION    OF    A   COUNTRY  AROUSED. — GOV.  SMITH 
ORDERS  OUT  "  THE  LUDINGTON  GUARD." — A  FINE  COM- 
MAND.— ITS   RANK   AND  FILE. — TO  THE  FIELD. — 
OLD    SCHOOL    HOUSE    CAMP. RECENT    REMI- 
NISCENCES.—  CAMP      CADY. — CONFER- 
ENCE   WITH    DOOLITTLE. — A    TALK 
WITH     THE     COLEMANS.  —  RE- 
SUME   OF    OPERATIONS 
AND  EVENTS. 

Public  attention  had  been  arrested  throughout  the  coun- 
try by  the  great  crime  of  the  Williams  brothers,  and  their 
pursuit  by  the  aroused  and  exasperated  citizens  of  two  coun- 
ties was  being  watched  with  thrilling  eagerness  by  readers 
of  the  daily  press.  Gov.  Smith  kept  himself  informed  of 
the  highly  agitated  condition  of  affairs  in  Pepin  and  Dunn 
counties,  and  was  not  slow  in  responding  to  the  call  form- 
ally made  upon  him  for  material  assistance  by  the  state.  In 
obedience  to  the  request  of  Sheriff  Severson  and  others,  of 
Menomonie,  His  Excellency  ordered  the  Ludington  Guard, 
a  cavalry  company,  to  proceed  to  the  front  and  lend  its 

044) 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  145 

power  to  the  prosecution  of  a  pursuit  which  was  "not 
without  hope  "  so  long  as  there  was  "  life  "  left  on  the  part 
of  the  law.  Captain  George  was  ordered  to  report  for 
duty  to  Sheriff  Peterson  of  Pepin  county. 

The  Ludington  Guard  was  organized  in  1876,  and  called 
in  honor  of  Wisconsin's  governor  by  that  name.  It  is  the 
only  cavalry  company  in  the  state,  with  the  exception  of  an 
independent  command  at  Milwaukee,  and  has  been 
splendidly  uniformed  and  finely  equipped.  Regularly  put 
through  the  practice  of  its  elementary  tactics,  the  Guard, 
while  seeing  for  several  years  only  the  bright  side  of  mili- 
tary life,  has  remained  in  readiness,  thanks  alike  to  the 
efficiency  of  its  officers  and  diligence  of  its  file,  for  the 
emergencies  of  actual  service.  The  Guard  had  enrolled 
some  sixty-five  men  in  all,  but  owing  to  the  absence  from 
town  of  a  number,  its  complement  could  not  be  obtained  at 
the  time,  and  the  roster  and  roll  of  the  company  showed 
but  forty-three  men  to  have  been  mustered  into  the  actual 
service  of  the  state  on  this  occasion. 

The  Chicago  Times  supplied  the  Guard  with  an  u  his- 
torian," in  the  person  of  a  special  correspondent  of  reputed 
familiarity  with  the  particular  kind  of  work  to  which  he 
had  been  assigned,  and  by  means  of  the  mail  bulletins  and 
dispatches  by  wire  furnished  The  Times  by  him,  and  addi- 
tional notes  from  his  pen,  hitherto  unpublished,  an  account 
has  been  preserved  in  this  history  of  the  Ludington  Guard's 
week  of  work  in  the  woods,  and  on  being  "  handed  down," 


i|f,  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

as  below,  can  hardly  fail  of  arousing  as  much  interest  in 
the  mind  of  the  general  reader  as  it  will  naturally  excite  in 
the  martial  breasts  of  the  young  men,  of  whom,  on  the 
morning  of  their  departure,  it  might  have  been  said,  in  the 
blind  poef  s  lines : 

See  them,  in  what  martial  equipage, 
They  issue  forth. 

The  Ludington  Guard,  forty-three  strong,  as  it  marched 
from  Menomonie  on  Monday  morning,  July  25th,  1881, 
consisted  of  the  following  rank  and  file: 

Captain,  T.  J.  George. 

First  Lieutenant,  Geo.  R.  Brewer. 

Second  Lieutenant,  H.  E.  Knapp. 

Surgeon,  E.  H.  Grannis. 

Orderly  Sergeant,  H.  A.  Wilcox. 

1st  Duty  Sergeant,  E.  H.  Wiggins. 

2d  Duty  Sergeant,  S.  A.  Peterson. 

3d  Duty  Sergeant,  W.  J.  Nott. 

Quartermaster,  W.  J.  Yates. 

ist  Corporal,  Wm.  Flood. 

2d  Corporal,  A.  S.  Ladd. 

Bugler,  Jacob  Miller. 

Blacksmith,  Ed.  Witcher. 

Saddler,  Byron  Rosebud. 

Privates:— L.  S.  Tainter,  C.  Remington,  J.  G.  Watter. 
son,  H.  Campbell,  M.  A.  Farnum,  E.  Harshman,  R.  Ves- 
per, Henry  Curtis,  R.  D.  Watterson,  Charles  West,  Charles 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  147 

Anderson,  W.  B.  Ward,  John  Campbell,  A.  O.  Curtis, 
John  Bull,  F.  Lewton,  F.  Campbell,  W.  Tubbs,  W.  Chap- 
pel,  E.  Morgan,  A.  L.  Curtis,  J.  C.  Phillips,  M.  Doolittle, 
Ed.  Cornell,  John  Sales,  D.  Chapin,  D.  Lucas,  John  Kelley, 
H.  Bundy. 

Enough  saddle  horses  could  not  be  obtained  on  so  short 
notice,  and  consequently  the  entire  command  did  not  go  on- 
horseback.  Between  twenty-five  and  thirty  mounted  cav- 
alrymen, however,  uniformed  for  the  field,  and  armed  with 
carbines,  constituted  an  imposing  cavalcade.  Following  the 
mounted  men  came  two  wagon-loads  of  "  cavalrymen 
afoot, "  the  conveyance  used  for  transporting  supplies  for 
the  commissariat  which  had  the  aspect  of  an  army  ambu- 
lance in  time  of  war,  and  a  wagon  containing  the  surgeon 
and  historian. 

The  story  of  the  Ludington  Guard's  experiences  and,  as 
well,  of  contemporaneous  events  occurring  during  the  con- 
tinued pursuit  of  the  outlawed  brothers,  will  best  be  told 
by  adopting  the  style  and  substance  of  articles  of  correspond- 
ence, as  re-written  in  great  measure  and  altered  by  liberal 
additions  expressly  for  this  volume  by  The  Chicago  Times 
correspondent : 

OLD  SCHOOL  HOUSE  CAMP,  Dunn  Co.,  Wis.  July  25  — 
"  Bulletin  No.  I  "  from  the  shifting  headquarters  of  the 
organized  pursuit  of  the  Maxwell-Williams  brothers  by  the 
Ludington  Guard  in  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin,  is  written  by 
the  flickering  light  of  a  lantern  placed  on  an  inverted  bar* 

10 


148  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

rel  the  bottom  of  which  serves  my  purpose  better  than  a 
drum-head.  The  Guard  arrived  here  at  just  about  supper- 
time.  As  it  filed  up  into  a  position  to  receive  the  order  to 
dismount  it  presented  a  fine  appearance  and  behaved  in  a 
martial  manner.  Its  members  are  recruited  from  the  first 
young  men  of  Menomonie  and  have  readily  received  the 
discipline  and  drilling  which  have  to-day  made  soldiers  of 
them. 

The  situation  of  the  camp  is  a  remarkably  picturesque 
one.  The  deserted  school  and  the  camping  ground  stand 
in  a  valley  at  the  side  of  the  road,  immediately  surrounded 
by  heavy  undergrowth  and  thick  patches  of  timber,  and 
distant  but  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  base  of  high 
wooded  bluffs  that  in  the  background  rise  in  a  majesty  all 
their  own  upon  three  sides  of  the  scene.  The  peculiar  en- 
chantment of  the  locality,  however,  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
old  log  school-house,  which  was  never  completed,  by  the 
way,  and  within  whose  walls  the  first  lesson  in  the  three 
R's  has  yet  to  be  taught,  was  a  favorite  rendezvous  of  the 
bold  bandits  themselves.  It  was  here  that  the  spoils  of  more 
than  one  expedition  were  divided  by  Ed.  and  Lon  Will- 
iams with  the  confederates  on  whom  they  relied,  as  the 
monkey  did  on  the  cat,  in  disposing  of  the  stolen  goods  they 
had  undertaken  to  sell  on  the  liberal  "  commission "  they 
appropriated  under  a  del  credere  of  their  own  construction. 

The  history  I  am  charged  with  keeping  records  partic 
ularly  the  possession  of  the  building  on  Friday,  July  \,  by 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers*  149 

the  Williams  brothers  and  two  accomplices — lesser  lights  in 
crime  subject  to  an  almost  total  eclipse  in  such  company — 
who  it  is  thought  arrived  here  during  the  previous  night. 
A  "  living  witness  "  to  this  was  in  camp  this  evening.  He 
is  a  small  farmer,  by  the  name  of  Austin,  and  exists  on  the 
small  clearing  in  the  woods  just  above  here.  He  states  that 
on  the  Friday  morning  in  question,  as  he  came  along  the 
road  in  search  of  stray  cattle  he  heard  a  noise  in  the  school- 
house  and  was  led  by  curiosity  to  approach  and  quietly  open 
the  door.  He  saw  three  men  busied  in  sorting  over  a  lot 
of  gentlemen's  fine  clothing  and  small  jewelry.  "Hello!" 
he  ejaculated,  when  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye — his  eye,  for 
a  fact — two  revolvers  were  thrust  into  his  face,  and  a  surly 
demand  made  upon  him  for  his  business  there.  While  the 
two  armed  men  and  their  companion  were  engaged  in 
frightening  the  poor  farmer  out  of  his  wits,  a  fourth  party 
came  running  up  around  the  house  from  the  thickets  just 
behind.  After  fully  satisfying  themselves  of  farmer  Aus- 
tin's inability  to  do  anybody  any  particular  harm,  the  out- 
laws suffered  him  to  proceed  on  his  way  to  "  call  the  cattle 
home. " 

Again  on  the  night  after  the  murder  at  a  late  hour  when 
the  moon  had  risen,  Ed.  and  Lon  Williams  were  seen  to 
leave  the  thickets  across  the  road,  at  a  short  distance,  and 
approach  the  school-house  as  if  seeking  a  shelter  for  the 
night.  One  of  the  guard  of  four  persons,  stationed  inside 
the  building,  cried  out  all  too  soon:  "Halt!"  and  fired  al« 


tyy  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

most  at  random  in  his  great  excitement.  The  Williams 
brothers  slunk  back  in  the  woods  and  were  seeu  no  more. 

Sheriff  Peterson,  who  had  been  notified  of  the  action  of 
the  governor  and  of  the  movements  of  the  Guard,  arrived 
in  camp  about  dusk  according  to  appointment.  Capt. 
George  was  received  by  his  superior  in  command  with  a 
quiet  civility  and  in  a  manner  betokening  an  appreciation 
of  the  serious  business  in  hand. 

It  has  been  determined  that  the  Ludington  Guard  shall 
cooperate  as  far  as  possible  with  Doolittle's  company. 
Marching  orders  will  be  given  at  au  early  hour  in  the 
morning  and  the  cavalry  will  proceed  on  its  road  into  the 
"big  woods.'  A  halt  will  be  made  on  the  way  at  Capt. 
Doolittle's  camp,  where  a  conference  of  the  leaders  will  be 
had.  Sheriff  Peterson  has  taken  this  action  in  justice  to 
Doolittle,  who  has  thus  far  conducted  field  operations  in  an 
able  and  satisfactory  manner,  and  whose  work  has  been  too 
valuable  to  be  undone  in  the  least,  as  might  be  the  case 
were  an  entirely  independent  command  to  reoccupy  a  part 
of  the  field  already  covered  by  him.  What  remains  of  the 
Pepin  county  posse  is  separated  into  squads,  on  guard  at 
different  intervals  through  the  country  below  here,  where 
the  Williamses  were  first  reported  as  having  been  seen. 

CAMP  CADY,  Pierce  Co.,  Wis.,  July  26. — The  Luding- 
ton Guard  folded  its  tents  at  the  old  school  house  at  an 
early  hour  this  morning  and  took  up  the  line  of  march 
through  a  veritable  "  howling  wilderness."  Here  and  there 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  151 

we  came  across  a  farm  opening,  but  for  the  most  part  the 
clearings  were  small  and  the  farms  in  keeping  with  the 
general  character  of  the  people  living  in  this  out-of-the- 
world  region.  There  were  a  few  exceptions,  certainly, 
both  as  to  farms  and  farmers,  but  we  were  impressed  with 
the  belief  that,  generally  speaking,  the  Williamses  would 
ordinarily  be  as  free  to  travel  the  road  as  to  press  against 
the  thorns  and  interwoven  brush  through  the  dark  ravines 
and  deep  coolies  and  across  the  rocky  ridges  covered  with 
thicket  and  timber.  It  is  surprising  how  many  school 
houses — "  old  "  ones  and  new  ones — there  are  in  the  "  big 
woods,"  and  still  more  surprising  where  the  school  children 
are  expected  to  come  from. 

We  reached  Camp  Cady  about  noon,  with  appetites 
whetted  for  the  good  dinner  we  enjoyed  as  the  guests  of 
Capt.  Doolittle,  whom  we  found  here  with  thirty-five  men. 
Edward  and  Henry  Colemen,  of  Knapp,  brothers  of  the 
murdered  men,  Capt,  Kelley,  Capt.  Scribner,  Sheriff 
Anderson,  of  Henderson  Co.,  Illinois,  and  Prosecuting  At- 
torney Woodard,  of  St.  Croix  county,  are  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  Doolittle  party. 

I  had  an  interview  of  some  length  with  the  Colemans — 
fine  fellows,  said  to  resemble  their  butchered  brothers  in 
bravery  and  manliness.  Their  theory  of  the  tragedy  is  that 
Milton  and  Charles  Coleman  had  set  out  to  make  a  peace- 
able arrest,  and  that  they  threw  their  own  lives  away  in 
giving  the  Williamses  a  fair  chance  to  surrender.  Had  they 


152  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

started  out  to  shoot  the  horse  thieves  on  sight,  they  would 
have  been,  probably,  more  than  a  match  for  the  despera- 
does, but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  their  success  in  such  event 
in  ridding  the  country  of  two  bad  characters  would  have 
been  open  to  criticism  on  the  part  of  many  who  have,  since 
the  sudden  debut  of  the  Williams  brothers  as  man-slayers, 
found  cause  to  censure  the  Colemans  for  rashness  and  in- 
discretion. We  obtained  late  news  here  of  the  outlaws, 
who  are  furnished  with  supplies  by  more  than  one  family  of 
sympathizers  in  these  peculiar  parts. 

The  woman  of  a  dilapidated  dwelling  back  from  the 
road,  a  mile  distant,  where  the  Williamses  are  thought  to 
have  obtained  provisions,  in  conversation  with  one  of 
Doolittle's  scouts,  showed  her  feeling  pretty  plainly.  "  You 
fellers  will  never  ketch  them  'ere  boys.  They  be  too 
smart  for  ye.  They've  got  a  glass  along  with  'em  an'  ken 
see  jest  what  you're  about  all  the  time."  She  further 
vouchsafed  the  consoling  information  that  if  any  of  the 
pursuers  did  "ketch  up"  with  the  human  tigers,  they 
would  have  the  daylight  put  through  them  in  no  time  at 
all.  Other  reports  confirm  the  homely  hag's  statement 
that  the  Williamses  have  a  field-glass  with  them,  through 
which  they  watch  the  open  movements  of  their  pursuers 
from  on  high,  securely  hidden  from  similar  inspection  by 
the  almost  impenetrable  undergrowth  and  overgrowth  on  the 
steep  bluffs. 

The  freshest  trail  yet  struck  was  the  one  taken  up  and 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  153 

then  lost,  a  few  days  after  the  murder,  by  a  squad  of  scouts 
under  Capt.  Kelley,  who  struck  the  trail  on  a  hill  near  the 
house  of  "  Bill  "  Henry  Thompson,  one  of  the  "  cousins  by 
marriage  "  of  Lon  Williams.  Following  it  they  came  upon 
a  place  where  the  fugitives  had  stopped  to  rest.  Traces  of 
blood  and  matter  were  found  on  leaves  which  the  Wil- 
liamses  had  evidently  used  in  dressing  their  wounds.  The 
tracks  made  by  one  of  them  plainly  showed  that  he  had 
worn  a  boot  on  one  foot  and  a  moccasin  or  overshoe  on  the 
other.  The  trail  was  finally  lost,  and  search  in  that  direc- 
tion proving  fruitless  was  not  long  after  abandoned. 

Among  the  best  friends  of  the  Williamses  are  ranked  the 
De  Wolfe  brothers,  of  Hersey.  A  woman  who  knows 
Lon  WTilliams  saw  him  with  the  De  Wolfes  at  their  house 
one  day  last  week,  and  an  intercepted  letter  of  about  the 
same  date,  from  one  of  the  De  Wolfes  to  a  young  lady  in 
St.  Paul,  conveyed  the  information  that  the  Williams  boys 
had  "  returned  from  their  trip,  somewhat  jaded,  but  feeling 
in  good  spirits,"  and  that  they  had  taken  supper  there  the 
night  the  letter  was  written.  On  last  Saturday  one  of  the 
De  Wolfes  called  at  the  express  office  in  Hersey  with  a 
forged  order  for  a  lot  of  ammunition  sent  to  a  party  intend- 
ing to  join  in  the  pursuit,  and  left  Hersey  that  night 
with  the  express  package  in  his  possession.  He  most 
assuredly  carried  this  ammunition  to  a  rendezvous  of 
the  Williamses.  He  has  since  returned  home,  but 
the  arrest  of  the  De  Wolfes  has  been  deferred  in  hopes 


i^.  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

of  tracking  one  of  them  at  least  to  a  lair  of  the  fugitives. 
Doolittle  has  now  in  his  paid  employ  certain  parties 
whose  names  are  properly  withheld,  who  have  been  in  com- 
munication with  the  Williams  brothers,  but  who  have  been 
open  to  bribes  to  give  away  the  whereabouts  of  their 
friends.  Under  the  lead  of  one  of  these  spies,  the  outlaws 
might  have  been  run  down  on  Sunday  but  for  the  swarm  of 
pursuers  everywhere  in  the  suspected  neighborhood,  into 
whose  hands  the  unknown  party  would  most  provokingly 
fall,  when  he  would  be  stopped  and  brought  to  the  camp 
under  arrest.  This  happened  no  less  than  three  times  dur- 
ing that  day  and  night,  and,  as  the  spies'  business  could  not 
be  given  away,  the  trail  grew  cold.  The  desperadoes  were 
constantly  shifting  their  positions,  each  one  of  which  is  next 
to  impregnable,  unless  betrayed  or  stumbled  on  by  accident. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  the  leaders  in  the  Doolittle  party,  how- 
ever, based  upon  reliable  reports  of  persons  who  have  seen 
one  or  both  of  the  Williamses,  that  they  are  keeping  them- 
selves in  daily  view  of  the  field  proceedings  of  their  pur- 
suers. Aided  as  they  are  on  almost  every  hand,  both  by 
people  who  are  half-way  on  the  road  to  total  depravity  and 
by  ignorant  country  folk  who  are  forced  through  fear  to 
lend  assistance,  and  with  their  skill  in  woodcraft,  the  Wil- 
liams brothers  cannot  be  said,  as  yet,  to  be  making  their 
way  against  such  great  odds  as  it  would  appear  to  the 
reader  abroad.  There  are  half  a  dozen  vast  caves  within 
three  miles  of  here,  in  whose  fastnesses  fugitives  from  jus- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  155 

tice,  also  anxious  to  avoid  the  forked  lightning  of  a  stormy 
night,  could  find  dry  comfort.  These  caves  are  at  the  head 
of  rocky  ravines,  and  appear  to  a  casual  sight  like  mere 
fisures,  or  cavities.  Fresh  ashes  were  discovered  in  one  of 
these  caves  one  day  last  week. 

The  conference  between  Capt.  Doolittle,  Sheriff  Peterson 
and  Captain  George  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  cavalry 
should  proceed  seven  miles  further,  in  a  southeasterly  direc- 
tion, and  camp  in  Dunn  county  at  a  point  w^iere  it  can  act 
in  concert  when  desired,  or  on  its  becoming  necessary,  with 
the  posse  on  foot. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 
EXPERIENCES  OF  SERVICE. 

IN  CAMP  AT  MAPLE  SPRINGS. — MENOMONIE*S  SCARE. — 
"WE'UNSAND  YOU  'UNS.  " — A  PRISONER. — THE  SO- 
CIAL SIDE    OF    CHARACTER    IN   THE    CAVALRY- 
MEN.— GOOD    COMPANY. — TAINTER's  FANCY 
SHOTS. PREACHING    TO    THE   "HEA- 
THEN."  SHERIFFANDERSON. ONE 

OF     HIS     POSTAL     CARDS. 

MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  Dunn  Co.,  Wis.,  July  27. — 
Resuming  the  line  of  march  across  the  ridges  and  through 
the  valleys,  the  Ludington  guards  arrived  here  yesterday 
afternoon.  The  camping  grounds  lie  in  a  romantic  vale, 
through  which  a  little  brook  runs  from  its  source,  where  a 
"  cool  spring  bubbles  up,  "  taking  its  course  "  through  the 
meadow,  across  the  road,"  and,  leaving  the  clearing,  is  lost 
among  the  thickets  at  the  foot  of  an  adjacent  ridge  or  bluff. 
The  water  is  cool  and  "  clear  as  the  crystal  flood,"  and 
highly  prized.  Officers'  headquarters  have  been  established 
in  the  Spring  Tavern,  a  deserted  wayside  inn,  roomy  and 
comfortable  for  the  purpose.  The  old  sign,  found  where  it 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  157 

had  fallen  during  some  wind-storm,  was  hoisted,  reviving 
old  assocations  in  the  strangely  new  ones  now  being  made 
a  part  of  the  humble  hostel's  history. 

The  cavalrymen  -are  resting  their  horses  to-day,  and  are 
all  detailed  on  outpost  duty,  with  the  exception  of  a  small 
number  left  as  a  garrison  for  highly-prized  horses,  the  in- 
valuable stores,  the  skillful  surgeon  and  the  humble  histo- 
rian. Camp  life  with  us  "  at  home,"  is  jolly  enough,  andjas 
little  restraint  as  is  necessary  has  been  placed  on  the  natu- 
rally high  spirits  of  active  young  manhood.  What  a  change 
would  be  wrought  by  the  appearance  in  the  near  back- 
ground of  the  scene  of  the  Williams  brothers!  The  State's 
soldier  boys  would  be  equal  to  the  occasion  undoubtedly, 
but  it  would  certainly  put  them  as  much  on  their  mettle  as 
if  the  toughest  experience  of  a  life  in  the  regular  service 
was  about  to  be  encountered. 

The  news  from  the  towns  supplies  us  with  all  manner  of 
reports  about  the  grand  search.  It  was  told  in  Menomonie 
this  morning  that  Capt.  George  had  been  relieved  of  his 
boots  at  the  camp  last  night  by  a  thief  who  might  be  an 
emissary  from  the  bandits.  Great  Jupiter!  to  imagine  our 
valiant  captain  without  his  high-top  boots  is  to  think  of  a 
shorn  deity. 

Menomonie  has  hardly  recovered,  I  should  judge,  from 
its  first-class  scare  the  other  night,  when  a  couple  of  Knapp 
boys  arrived  at  a  late  hour  from  the  front.  They  were 
armed  with  Winchesters,  had  revolvers  in  their  belts,  and 


158  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

looked  as  near  like  the  Williams  boys  as  their  alleged  pho- 
tographs. Stepping  into  a  saloon  and  dance-hall,  the  gen- 
tlemen from  Knapp  quietly  got  the  drinks  and  withdrew. 
Their  Winchesters  gave  them  dead  away,  it  seems,  for  no 
sooner  were  they  safely  out  of  sight  than  the  barkeepei 
raised  an  alarm  which  well-nigh  awakened  the  whole  town. 
Sheriff  Severson  was  roused  up,  and  his  family  so  badly 
frightened  that  he  was  only  allowed  by  his  wife  to  go  down 
town  to  investigate  the  rumor  upon  awakening  enough 
neighbors  to  secure  a  comfortable  garrison  for  the  jail 
building. 

Capt.  George  has  secured  the  services  of  a  valuable 
guide  and  proposes  to  scour  this  part  of  the  country  thor- 
oughly. While  the  horses  are  indispensible  to  the  guards 
when  moving  from  one  place  to  another,  the  real  work  has 
to  be  done  on  foot  and  generally  amid  surroundings  that 
render  the  detection  of  an  ambushed  party  exceedingly  dif- 
ficult within  one's  conservational  reach.  The  pursuers  aim 
to  cut  off  the  supplies  being  sent  from  different  places  to 
the  Williamses,  and  to  this  end  have  set  spies  to  watch  the 
comings  in  and  goings  out  of  more  than  one  of  the  "  first 
families  "  in  the  smaller  clearings. 

MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  Dunn  Co.,  Wis.,  July  27. — A 
scouting  party  of  the  Guard  rode  up  to-day  to  a  log  shanty 
in  the  woods,  and  halted  in  the  presence  of  two  buxom 
damsels,  aged  about  16  and  13,  respectively.  Upon  inquir- 
ies after  any  strange  men  that  might  have  been  seen  in  the 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  159 

timber,  one  of  the  girls,  whose  cheeks  had  whitened  at  the 
unusual  sight  of  the  armed  cavalrymen,  spoke  up:  "  We 
'uns  was  terrible  'fraid  o'  you  'uns,  'cause  we  thought  mebbe 
you  was  some  of  the  Williamses.  No,  we  ain't  seen  noth- 
ing o'  nobody,  and  don't  know  nothing. "  Their  sincerity 
could  not  be  doubted,  and  the  squad  moved  on.  One  of  the 
boys  looked  back,  when  a  few  hundred  yards  away,  and 
gracefully  saluted  the  rustics,  who  were  on  a  sudden  seized 
with  an  irresistible  desire  to  fly,  and,  joining  hands,  took  to 
their  heels.  The  shouts  of  laughter  sent  after  them  served 
to  increase  their  speed,  and  the  way  they  "legged  it"  was 
a  rich  sight. 

Under  the  escort  of  Orderly  Sergeant  Wilcox  and  two 
of  the  guards,  and  accompanied  by  Surgeon  Grannis,  The 
Times  correspondent  was  treated  this  afternoon  to  a  ride  of 
five  miles  over  the  worst  roads  yet  encountered — they  were 
as  bad,  about,  as  the  thickets  through  which  at  times  the 
road  was  next  to  lost.  We  passed  one  very  dark  and  deep 
ravine  which  particularly  impressed  us  as  a  place  where  but 
half-dead  men  could  positively  be  relied  on  to  tell  no  tales. 
The  party — an  old  woman  named  Mrs.  Fitch — we  started 
out  to  see  was  sought  at  her  son-in-law's,  W.  H.  Thompson, 
a  cousin  of  the  Bill  Thompson  whose  step-daughter  Lon 
Williams  wed.  The  old  lady  was  found  to  be  not  at  home, 
but  the  sergeant  obtained  for  a  consideration,  the  services  of 
Thompson  as  a  scout  and  guide.  Going  to  the  well  for  a 
drink,  one  of  the  guards  accosted  a  little  three-year-old 


i6c  Life  of   Williams  Brothers. 

shaver  in  the  yard  and  asked  him  where  his  gran'ma  was. 
"Down  cellar!"  was  the  urchin's  answer.  Now  we  have 
no  reason  to  think  the  Thompsons  told  us  an  untruth,  but  a 
sharp  little  grand-son,  all  the  same,  gave  away  what  likely 
enough  had  been  the  old  lady's  favorite  hiding  place  on 
former  visits  to  the  house,  during  the  "  hunt, "  of  armed  pur- 
suers. 

On  our  return  Sergeant  Wilcox  overhauled  a  suspicious 
old  customer,  whose  stories  conflicted,  and  who  had  told 
different  parties  of  his  having  seen  the  Williamses  half  a 
dozen  times  yesterday.  We  overtook  him  in  the  act  of  hiring 
out  to  a  farmer  for  a  few  days'  labor  at  harvesting,  and  the 
sergeant's  suspicions  being  properly  excited  by  his  failure  to 
tell  a  straight  story,  we  gave  him  a  seat  with  us  in  the 
wagon,  under  guard. 

Scattered  through  this  region,  and  generally  accounted 
among  the  more  respectable  of  the  settlers  on  the  cleared 
farms,  reside  numerous  branches  of  the  Thompsons,  related 
to  Lon  Williams  by  marriage.  Occasionally  one  of  their 
number  falls  under  suspicion,  but  it  is  by  no  means  easy  to 
prove  a  thing  of  this  sort  on  any  one,  however  crooked  their 
actions  may  appear. 

The  many  opportunities  afforded  me  for  studying  the 
social  side  of  character  in  those,  both  in  the  rank  and  file,  of 
theLudington  Guard,  with  whom  I  have  been  thrown  most 
in  contact,  I  have  done  my  best  to  improve.  I  am  fond  to 
a  degree  of  good  company,  and  it  is  my  rare  good  fortune- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  16 1 

here  in  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin,  on  an  errand  which  had 
promised  nothing  of  the  sort,  to  have  found  it  of  a  like 
degree.  Capt.  George,  whose  appearace  of  being  "  every 
inch  a  soldier"  is  in  accordance  with  the  meritorious  fact  of 
his  having  served  with  gallantry  in  the  civil  war,  is  a  hearty 
wit,  to  "  top  off "  with.  He  can  tell  a  capital  story, 
and  sing  a  good  song,  possessing  as  he  does  fine  dialect 
powers. 

Lieutenant  Brewer  reflects  distinction  upon  his  rank  as 
next  in  command,  and  is  a  pleasant  gentleman,  whom  I  shall 
remember  long  withal. 

Lieutenant  Knapp  is  a  fine  conversationalist  and  a  highly 
refined  gentleman,  both  in  speech  and  manner,  and  with 
whom  it  must  be  an  honor  and  a  pleasure  to  be  on  terms  of 
friendly  intimacy. 

Surgeon  Grannis  is,  like  the  staff  officers,  a  young  man, 
and  in  his  honored  profession  stands  deservedly  high,  as  well 
as  being  much  sought  after  for  his  social  qualities.  The 
doctor  has  been  our  "  friend  in  need  and  indeed."  The  boys 
have  frequent  recourse  to  his  pill  boxes  and  array  of  inter- 
esting looking  bottles,  big  and  little.  The  bowels  have  to 
be  taken  consummate  care  of  on  expeditions  of  this  character 

Orderly  Seargeant  Wilcox  is  one  of  the  most  jovial  fellows 
and  best  yarn-spinners  in  camp.  I  never  tire  of  hearing 
him  as  he  relates  anecdotes  of  his  experience  as  an  under- 
sheriff  and  deputy  United  States  Marshal,  with  the  Nor- 
wegians, French,  Indians  and  other  classes  among  the  popu- 


,62  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

lation  of  Northern  Wisconsin.    He,  too,  has  dialect  powers 
of  a  kind  to  envy. 

If  it  were  possible,  and  being  possible  would  be  polite,  in 
me  to  express  a  preference  among  companions  such  as  these 
grand  young  men  are,  then  I  might  name  Louis  Tainter. 
Though,  like  Lieut.  Knapp,  a  son  of  one  of  the  members  of 
the  Knapp,  Stout  &  Co.  Company,  a  powerful,  wealthy  and 
liberal  corporation,  whose  lumber  and  mercantile  interests 
foot  up  into  the  millions  at  a  year's  end,  privateTainter  is  as 
unpretentious  and  open-hearted  as  the  humblest  in  his  mili- 
tary file.  He  is  bubbling  over  constantly  with  the  wit  that  is  in 
him,  and  is  altogether  one  of  the  most  congenial  of  those 
companions  one  finds  on  the  wayside  of  life's  fleeting  jour- 
ney  that  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  meet. 

We  have  an  artist,  also,  with  us.  Prof.  Jacob  Miller, 
everybody's  familiar  as  plain  "Jake,"  can  draw  as  good  a 
sketch  in  black  and  white,  as  one  would  want  to  see.  Jacob's 
other  forte  is  story-telling.  The  amorous  passages  from  the 
leaves  of  a  well-stored  memory  are  what  he  delights  in 
chiefly.  He  unravels  his  plot— literally  and  figurative!) 
and  in  such  a  manner  that  often  "  worse  than  Tantalus"  is 
their  «  amoy"  who  sit  and  listen,  in  nervous  impatience  to 
get  to  the  naked  fact  on  which  the  ten-mile  tale  is  hung. 

The    rest    of  the  boys  are   all   good    fellows,  among 
whom  it  would  be  hard  to  particularize. 

MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  July  28.— The  fact  that  skilled 
shots  though  the  Williams  brothers  are,  there  are  others  in 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  163 

Wisconsin  who  can  **  shoot  some  "  as  well  as  the  outlaws, 
received  to  my  mind,  on  to-day  in  camp  here, "  exemplifi- 
cation by  example  "  of  a  most  positive  character.  The  boys 
were  allowed  to  indulge  in  a  little  target  practice  with  their 
new  Colt's  six-shooters,  sent  by  Uncle  Sam  from  the  Rock 
Island  arsenal,  and  obtained  on  yesterday  evening  by  wagon 
from  Menomonie.  Pistol  practice  becoming  a  little  tame, 
we  were  highly  entertained  by  Louis  Tainter  and  his  Win- 
chester. His  off-hand  exhibition  embraced  a  number  of 
fancy  shots  executed  in  imitation  of,  and  as  well  as,  Lon 
Williams.  He  would  bring  down  small  objects  thrown  by 
another  up  in  the  air  at  distances  of  from  six  to  ten  yards, 
and  broke  with  ease  the  bowl  of  a  clay  pipe  held  in  the 
hand  of  his  friend,  Sergt.  Wilcox.  Looking  about  for 
more  sport  of  the  kind,  the  skillful  marksman  sighted  the 
tail  of  a  pig,  feeding  in  the  bushes  on  the  hill  behind  where 
he  stood  at  a  distance  of  about  fifty  paces.  He  parted  the 
curl  of  that  tail  right  in  the  middle.  Taking  similar  aim  at 
another  shoat,  Tainter  fired,  but  with  an  "  indifferent  suc- 
cess," as  owing  to  a  sudden  move  by  the  restless  young 
hog,  the  pig,  in  this  instance,  may  be  said  to  have  been  shot 
off  the  tail. 

MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  July  28. — The  pictures  of  the 
Williams  brothers,  from  which  their  published  descriptions 
were  obtained,  do  not  appear  to  be  such  likenesses  of  them 
as  their  friends  would  care  much  about  keeping  in  order  to 
remember  them  by.  I  have  seen  no  less  than  a  dozen  par- 
II 


164  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

ties,  both  men  and  women,  who  knew  the  Williamses  well 
— some  of  them  intimately — and  in  no  case  were  the  de- 
scriptions verified.  The  photographs  of  Lon  Williams, 
taken  in  different  positions,  in  his  Sunday  clothes  and  in  an 
outlaw's  habit,  armed  to  the  teeth,  are  for  the  most  part 
poorly  executed.  In  Menomonie  the  side  and  front  views 
of  Lon  were  exhibited  and  duly  labeled  as  the  picture  of 
Kd.  and  Lon  respectively.  The  only  picture  I  have  seen 
that  doesn't  resemble  any  of  Lon's  photos,  and  so  may  be 
the  likeness  it  is  said  to  be  of  Ed.,  was  given  me  by  Under- 
sheriff  Knight,  of  Pepin  county.  The  following  descrip- 
tion of  the  two  brothers  I  have  based  on  the  testimony  of 
parties  who  knew  them  both:  Ed.  Maxwell,  alias  Wil- 
liams, five  feet  seven  inches  in  height,  compactly  built, 
about  140  pounds  in  weight,  age  between  30  and  35  years, 
dark  complexion,  black  hair,  black  or  very  deep  blue  eyes, 
short  black  mustache  and  goatee,  dull  heavy  set  features, 
taciturn  disposition.  Alonzo  (Lon)  Maxwell,  alias  Wil- 
liams, five  feet  ten  inches  in  height,  medium  build, 
weight  about  150  pounds,  age  25,  light  complexion, 
auburn  hair,  gray  or  blue  eyes,  brown  mustache  and 
chin  whiskers,  cheerful  disposition.  Lon's  manners  were 
more  those  of  a  gentleman  than  Ed's,  and  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  family  resemblance  is  not  perceptible 
between  them.  Both  are  supposed  to  have  smooth 
faces,  unless  they  have  grown  negligent  about  shaving 
while  in  the  woods  with  so  much  else  to  think  of. 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers,  165 

At  the  time  of  the  murdev  both  wore  false  heavy 
black  beards. 

The  portly  old  prisoner  Sergt.  Wilcox  took  in  yesterday 
proves  to  be  a  party  named  or  called  Pennywell,  who  occa- 
sionally preaches  for  a  living.  He  is  related  to  a  hard 
crowd — the  Bishops — who  reside  farther  north  in  the  woods. 
"  Old  Pennyroyal,"  as  the  boys  call  him,  got  permission  to 
hold  religious  service  in  Camp,  and  preached  a  short  sermon 
very  much  at  random  as  to  text  and  ideas.  He  gave  us  the 
revised  Lord's  prayer,  and  led  in  several  hymns,  the  boys 
joining  in  the  chorus  with  a  vocal  vigor  that  awakened  the 
resounding  echoes. 

Sheriff  Anderson,  of  Illinois,  who  has  been  in  the  field 
with  Capt.  Doolittle  throughout  the  pursuit,  and  has  been 
untiring  in  his  efforts  to  bring  to  justice — immediate  justice — 
the  outlaws  whose  crime  was  brought  about  by  the  incentive 
of  reward  held  out  in  his  postal  cards  to  the  Wisconsin 
authorities,  was  in  camp  to-day.  He  told  me  that  one  of 
these  postal  cards  was  found  in  the  breast  pocket  of  Milton 
Coleman  after  he  had  been  laid  out  upon  his  bloody  bier. 
The  words  written  in  ink — "  Be  careful  and  go  armed,  they 
are  desperate  men," — seemed  to  stand  out  in  bold  relief 
from  their  background  of  the  crimson  -blood  of  man.  The 
sheriff  was  bound  for  below,  and  had  in  his  possession  the 
stolen  steed  which  was  found  in  the  woods  where  the 
Williamses  had  tied  and  then  left  it  to  starve.  The  Illinois 
sheriff  will  pick  up  the  other  horse  at  Durand,  and  ship 


1 66  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

them  both  home  by  steamer  from  Reed's  Landing,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Chippewa,  on  the  Mississippi.  He  expects 
to  return  himself  with  the  horses  unless  something  turns  up 
in  the  next  day  or  two. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  GREAT  FRAUD. 

A  PITILESS  PURSUIT  ON  PAPER. — "  BUFFALO  CHARLIE." — 

WHERE  ARE  THE  BLOODHOUNDS? — THE  LONG-LEGGED 

DUTCHMAN    IN    PERIL. — HOW    HE   "TOOK   THEM 

IN." — EPISTOLARY     CONFIDENCES     OF     A 

BELLE   OF   THE    BIG    WOODS. — BEEF 

FOR    THE     BANDITS. 

READERS  of  the  widest  circulated  newspaper  in  the 
country,  The  Times,  of  Chicago,  were  thrown  into  a  fever 
heat  of  excitement  by  a  telegraphic  despatch  from  the  seat 
of  war,  published  on  Friday  morning,  July  2oXh,  announ- 
cing a  new  departure  of  an  intensely  thrilling  nature  in 
the  plans  and  tactics  of  the  pursuing  party.  The  dispatch 
ran  as  follows: 

"MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  Dunn  Co.,  Wis.,  July  28. — New 
life  has  been  infused  into  the  pursuit  of  the  Williams 
brothers  by  the  arrival  of  eight  Indian  scouts  with  thirty 
bloodhounds,  employed  out  west  by  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment. The  scouts  are  headed  by  Buffalo  Charile  and 

Yellowstone  Kelley.    With  these  names  the  readers  of  The 

(167) 


1 68  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

Times  were  made  familiar  during  Custer's  and  Miles'  cam- 
paigns in  1876  and  1877.  Buffalo  Charlie's  parents, 
brothers,  and  sisters  were  killed  by  Indians  over  six  years 
ago,  since  which  time  he  has  given  his  whole  heart  to  his 
work  of  tracking  redskins  and  fugitives  from  justice  gener- 
ally. The  trail  of  the  outlaws  will  be  taken  up  in  the 
vicinity  of  Doolittle's  camp,  and  the  scouts  will  go  ahead 
with  the  entire  pack  of  bloodhounds,  starting  such  a  hunt 
as  was  never  witnessed  in  the  big  woods  before.  If  the 
outlaws  will  kindly  remain  where  they  have  been  for  the 
past  fortnight  they  are  certain  to  be  run  down.  The  ex- 
citing chase  will  begin  some  time  before  night." 

The  associated  press,  as  is  its  invariable  custom,  took  its 
pick  from  the  news  columns  of  The  Times  on  that  day, 
and  by  the  next  day  "  a  whole  world  knew  "  more  about 
those  bloodhounds  than  "  we  in  the  woods." 

Everybody  shared  a  disappointment,  felt  abroad  only  less 
keenly  than  by  bamboozled  Badgers — of  which  The  Times 
man  counts  himself  one  of  the  first — the  following  day, 
when  there  appeared  a  second  dispatch,  dated  the  same  as 
the  preceding  one,  which  had  been  delayed  while  in  the 
hands  of  a  messenger  until  too  ^ate  an  hour  to  get  into 
telegraphic  communication  with  Chicago  that  night.  The 
second  dispatch  was  as  follows : 

"MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  July  28,6  p.  M. — The  informa- 
tion dispatched  77ie  Times  this  morning  that  eight  Indian 
scouts  and  thirty  bloodhounds  had  arrived  to  join  the  pur- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  169 

suit  of  the  Williams  brothers  was  based  and  still  rests  solely 
on  the  statements  of  a  party  calling  himself  Buffalo  Charlie, 
who  reported  the  scouts  and  dogs  a  few  miles  below  here. 
As  yet  no  dogs  have  been  seen,  and  investigation  fails  to 
reveal  their  whereabouts  in  any  part  of  this  country  up  from 
Reed's  Landing,  where  Charlie  said  the  men  and  dogs  had 
arrived  early  this  morning.  The  suspicions  of  the  authori- 
ties have  been  excited,  and  the  alleged  scout  has  been  placed 
under  surveillance.  We  are  looking  anxiously  for  the 
hounds.  If  they  do  not  turn  up,  it  will  be  made  hot  for 
Buffalo  Charlie,  who  seems  anxious  to  get  into  the  woods 
alone." 

A  bulletin  sent  out  the  next  day  continues  the  narration, 
as  follows: 

"MAPLE  SPRINGS  CAMP,  July  29,  6:30  A.M. — The  all- 
absorbing  topic  in  both  camps  at  daybreak  this  morning  is 
furnished  in  the  mysterious  person  of  the  party  naming 
himself  Buffalo  Charlie,  the  Indian  scout.  His  tale  of  thirty 
bloodhounds,  which  he  promised  to  have  here,  together 
with  "  Yellowstone  Kelley  "  and  six  other  scouts,  by  night 
before  last,  he  first  said,  and  within  a  few  hours,  whenever 
he  has  been  approached  since,  has  not,  so  far,  been  verified 
in  a  single  instance.  Buffalo  Charlie  is  a  long-legged 
Dutchman,  talking  with  a  slight  accent.  Further  informa- 
tion about  him  will  be  thankfully  received  by  the  Ludington 
Guard  and  Doolittle's  company,  both  of  which  commands 
have  had  all  their  plans  and  calculations  upset  by  the  advent 


1 70  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

of  the  great  unknown.  Yesterday  noon  Charlie  started 
out  on  a  scout  through  the  woods,  accompanied  by  ten  men 
from  Doolittle's  camp  and  three  of  the  guards,  who  were 
under  orders  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  Dutchman.  They  were 
out  all  night,  and  have  not  yet  returned.  Nothing  has 
been  heard  from  the  dogs  yet,  and  speculation  is  rife  as  to 
"  who  in  h — 1  and  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin  "  is  this  Charles 
de  Buffalo.  If  he  is  not  what  he  represents  himself  to  be, 
just  what  interest  may  he  have  in  the  pursuit  of  the  Wil- 
liams brothers?  It  is  safe  to  say  that  if  those  hounds  do  not 
appear  to-day,  that  Buffalo  Charlie  will  be  seized  as  an 
accomplice  of  the  outlaws,  and  called  up  in  the  woods  to 
answer  the  charge  of  a  conspiracy  to  convey  information 
and  assistance  to  the  enemy.  Developments  are  anxiously 
awaited." 

The  next  dispatch  was  of  the  same  date,  at  a  later  hour, 
and  read  as  follows: 

"CAMP  CADY,  Pierce  County,  Wis.,  July  29,  via  ME- 
NOMONIK,  Wis.,  July  30.— Buffalo  Charlie's  fellow  scouts 
and  thirty  bloodhounds  failing  to  come  to  time,  and  his 
movements  taking  a  suspicious  turn,  he  was  put  under 
arrest  by  Capt.  Doolittle  this  morning.  Charlie  now  says 
that  the  bloodhounds  have  not  left  Fort  Lincoln  yet,  and 
the  other  scouts  have  gone  to  that  point.  He  says  that  he 
is  known  out  west  by  the  various  names  of  Buffalo  Charlie, 
Charlie  Lewis,  and  Yellowstone  Charlie.  He  dictated 
telegrams  to  be  sent  to  Portage,  Wis.,  and  Fort  Snelling, 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  17* 

Minn.,  asking  for  identification.  Unless  this  identification 
comes  in  due  time,  and  is  fully  satisfactory,  it  will  be  impos- 
sible to  restrain  his  captors  from  dealing  summarily  with 
the  alleged  scout,  who  is  strongly  suspected  of  complicity 
with  the  Williams  brothers,  to  whose  assistance  he  is  be- 
lieved to  have  come  as  a  spy.  Buffalo  or  Yellowstone 
Charlie  is  six  feet  one  inch  in  stature,  well  built,  weighs 
165,  has  brown  hair,  hay-colored  mustache  and  goatee 
watery  gray  eyes,  and  talks  with  a  slight  German  accent 
He  will  be  held  in  camp  until  his  telegrams  can  be  an- 
swered, ample  time  for  which  will  be  given. 

"  According  to  his  own  story,  as  revised  to  date,  Buffalo 
Charlie  has  not  been  in  regular  government  employment 
since  1878.  He  says  he  has  done  occasional  scouting  since 
in  the  summer,  and  hunted  buffaloes  in  the  winter.  Evi- 
dently he  has  been  working  his  way  for  the  past  two  months 
up  the  river  towards  St.  Paul,  hiring  out  as  cook  in  hotels 
along  the  route.  The  following,  written  in  pencil  on  a 
telegraph  blank,  dated  at  Portage,  Wis.,  was  found  in  his 
pocket : 

PROPRIETOR  DEVIL'S  LAKE  HOTEL: — What  about 
the  cook?  Answer. 

It  was  probably  intended  for  a  telegram,  but  was  not 
signed.  If  he  can  satisfy  his  captors  that  he  is  not  in  league 
with  the  Williams  brothers,  whatever  may  have  been  his 
object  for  telling  such  yarns,  Buffalo  Charlie  will  be  given 
his  freedom.  In  that  event  he  says  he  will  continue  in  pur- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

suit  of  the  outlaws  and  obtain  the  trail,  and  will  yet  have 
those  bloodhounds  here.  He  was  photographed  to-day 
by  an  artist  from  Menomonie.  Doolittle's  company  will 
not  give  up  pursuit  yet,  believing  the  game  is  still  concealed 
in  the  big  woods. 

Readers  of  The  Times  were  not  long  without  "the  full 
particulars, "  as  to  the  movements  of  the  mysterious  per- 
sonage, conveyed  in  the  following  article  of  correspondence : 

CAMP  CADY,  Wis.,  July  30.— The  first  seen  of  "Buffalo 
Charlie"  was  on  Wednesday  afternoon.  He  was  brought 
to  Maple  Springs  camp  in  the  wagon  of  an  Eau  Galle  man, 
who  had  met  him  in  that  place  en  route  from  below,  for  the 
pursuit  of  the  Williams  brothers.  The  stranger  told  the 
same  story  about  his  thirty  bloodhounds  and  the  other  seven 
scouts  coming  on  behind  him  that  he  regaled  the  men  at 
the  camps  with,  and  was  readily  given  a  lift  as  far  as  Maple 
Springs.  Here  he  was  accorded  a  warm  welcome  on  his 
errand  and  importance  being  made  known  by  the  party 
driving  the  wagon,  and  given  an  escort  and  ride  on  to  Camp 
Cady.  Buffalo  Charlie  left  a  parting  injunction  with  the 
Ludington  Guard  to  be  on  close  watch  that  night  for  the 
hounds,  which  he  said  he  expected  along  the  road  about 
dusk.  Arriving  at  Camp  Cady,  he  was  introduced  in  a 
like  manner  to  Doolittle's  company,  and  at  his  request  given 
a  detachment  of  men  for  scout  service  that  night,  in  order 
to  discover,  if  possible,  the  "  moccasin  trail "  of  Lon  Will- 
iams,  whose  sore  right  foot,  the  large  toe  of  which  is 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  173 

missing,  causes  him  to  wear  an  overshoe  or  moccasin,  with 
one  boot.  Buffalo  Charlie's  party  were  kept  hard  at  work 
all  night,  the  scout  professing  to  have  obtained  clues  worth 
following  up.  During  the  night  he  sent  a  messenger  to 
Maple  Springs  Camp,  asking  that  all  the  guards  save  a  small 
garrison,  be  sent  up  to  join  him  at  Howard's  farm,  several 
miles  distant.  In  the  absence  of  Capt.  George,  who  was 
out  on  a  scout,  Lieuts.  Brewer  and  Knapp  concluded  on 
consultation  that  an  order  by  an  unknown  party  could  not 
be  obeyed,  and  refused  to  send  the  men.  Thursday  morn- 
ing Capt.  George  started  up  to  see  about  the  dogs.  Char- 
lie was  met  near  Howard's,  and  when  questioned  said  that 
the  bloodhounds  and  the  rest  of  the  scouts  would  be  in  be- 
fore noon,  from  Menomonie,  where  they  had  gone  by  rail, 
instead  of  coming  across  the  country  from  below.  Night 
came,  but  no  dogs.  During  the  day  Charlie  had  obtained 
a  dozen  men  and  started  out  to  scour  the  woods.  He  was 
not  seen  again  until  caught  up  with  Friday  morning  and 
put  under  arrest.  Thursday  afternoon  was  passed  by 
Charlie's  command  in  following  trails  he  claimed  to  have 
struck.  The  scout  showed  the  boys  a  thing  or  two  in  the 
way  of  imitating  the  sounds  made  by  barking  wolves,  bay- 
ing hounds,  and  hooting  owls,  which  he  explained  as  sig- 
nals in  woodcraft.  He  also  fired  off  his  gun  several  times 
when  desirous  of  calling  in  the  picket  guards.  On  Thurs- 
day night  Charlie  and  four  men  were  quartered  in  a  barn 
on  Widow  Gibson's  place.  Charlie,  so  his  men  allege,  was 


174  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

anxious  for  them  all  to  go  to  sleep  and  rest,  saying  he  would 
sleep  light  and  be  responsible  for  guard  duty.  But  the  men, 
under  other  instructions,  kept  up  a  watch  by  turns  through 
the  night,  having  an  eye  out  for  the  horses  in  the  stable- 
On  Friday  morning,  as  neither  the  bloodhounds  nor  any 
trace  of  them  appeared,  after  minute  and  careful  investiga- 
tion, Capt.  Dcolittle  sent  out  a  squad  of  men  detailed  to  ar- 
rest the  suspicious  character  and  bring  him  into  camp.  The 
arrest  was  made  easily,  Charlie  professing  great  surprise 
mingled  with  ill-concealed  contempt  at  the  stupidity  of  his 
captors  in  taking  him  for  "  one  of  the  Williamses. "  Sev- 
eral hours  passed  after  he  was  taken  into  camp,  during 
which  time  the  situation  was  one  of  imminent  peril  to  the 
prisoner,  before  Buffalo  Charlie  decided  to  take  any  definite 
steps  toward  establishing  his  reputation. 

At  last  he  dictated  two  telegrams  to  parties  in  Fort  Snell- 
ing,  Minn.,  and  Portage  City,  Wis.,  asking  for  his  record 
as  a  scout  in  1873. 

After  these  telegrams  were  written  Charlie  was  pressed 
for  the  names  of  parties  who  knew  him  within  the  last 
month.  This  brought  him  to  the  confession  of  the  fact 
that  instead  of  having  been  traveling  across  the  country  in 
company  with  Indian  chiefs  during  the  past  few  weeks,  he 
had  been  working,  since  June  i,  as  a  cook  in  various  hotels 
along  the  river,  not  far  from  this  part  of  Wisconsin.  What 
a  fall  was  here^  my  countrymen !  From  a  scout  under  Cus- 
ter  to  a  second-rate  cook  in  a  country  tavern!  The  revela- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  175 

tion  caused  every  one  to  feel  worse  sold  out  than  ever,  and 
didn't  help  Charlie  any.  Time,  however,  was  allowed  him 
to  prove  his  standing  either  as  a  scout  or  as  a  cook,  and  un- 
der either  of  the  names  he  now  says  are  "  all  his  own  " — 
Buffalo  Charlie,  Yellowstone  Charlie,  Charlie  Lewis  and 
Charlie  Shubert.  His  photograph  was  taken  in  camp  to- 
day by  Ordemann,  a  photographic  artist  of  high  repute, 
who  brought  his  camera  with  him  from  Menomonie. 

While  the  disgust  that  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of 
the  pursuers  prevented  much  of  anything  like  a  relish  from 
being  obtained  by  the  perpetration  of  the  ordinary  joke, 
the  historian  succeeded  in  creating  a  momentary  ripple  of 
mirth,  on  an  occasion  we  will  take  his  own  words  to  ex' 
plain : 

The  old  Spring  Tavern,  where  we  are  quartered  so  com- 
fortably, was  a  frequented  resort  five  years  ago  when  kept 
by  old  man  Bailey.  Searching  its  abandoned  apartments 
for  relics,  I  came  upon  a  letter  written  three  years  ago  by 
one  party  feminine  to  another,  which  afforded  some  amuse- 
ment for  the  boys.  As  indicative  of  the  culture  and  re- 
finement which  marked  the  average  young  woman  of  this 
picturesque  section,  the  missive  was  filed  away  among  the 
archives  of  this  department  of  the  expedition.  The  sweet- 
est-spoken sentiments  of  the  writer,  Emma  Winters,  ad- 
dressing her  dear  friend  Ella  Alton  in  the  greatest  confi- 
dence, were  contained  in  the  following  touching  references 
to  their  school  (one  of  *he  numerous  log  school  houses  in 


176  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

the  woods)  and  school  teacher :  "  If  I  was  you  I  would  not 
read  to-morrow  just  to  spite  him.  I  don't  see  what  you 
done.  Yes,  ser,  we  will  have  a  bully  old  time  up  there  to 
school,  and  if  that  old  sticker  says  anything  to  me,  I  will 
knock  his  by-God  head  off,  as  fank  Blair  said.  If  you  had 
of  been  me  when  he  sent  you  tow  your  seat  I  would  of  took 
my  book  and  bonnet  and  went  home,  and  give  him  fits  be- 
sides." 

Capt.  George  did  not  lose  any  more  time  than  could  pos- 
sibly be  helped  with  "  Buffalo  Charlie, "  but  continued  the 
careful  exploration  of  the  section  of  country  he  had  under- 
taken to  "  round  up. "  One  of  these  expeditions  resulted 
in  the  finding  by  a  party  in  command  of  the  Captain  him- 
self, of  the  carcass  of  a  recently  killed  steer,  out  of  whose 
flank  a  twelve  pound  chunk  of  meat  had  been  cut.  Tracks, 
made  out  with  extreme  difficulty,  near  by  were  believed 
after  a  close  examination  to  be  those  of  the  outlaws,  the 
moccasined  foot  of  Lon  Williams  having  left  its  "  give- 
away" mark. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  PURSUIT  ABANDONED. 

SUCCESS    AND    FAILURE. — MONEY    AND  TIME    OUT. — THE 
LUDINGTON  GUARD  RECALLED. A  "  BULL  RUN"  EPI- 
SODE.— "THE    TIMES"   CORRESPONDENT   THEO- 
RIZES ON    "  BUFFALO  CHARLEY." — LOTH   TO 

LEAVE  THE  FIELD. — A  WILD  RUMOR. 

PALMYRA'S  FRIGHT. — THE  WILLIAMS 
BROTHERS  AHEAD  OF  THE  LAW. 

IT  is  said  that  nothing  succeeds  like  success.  Per  contra^ 
nothing  fails  so  far  as  failure.  After  spending  a  good  deal 
of  both  time  and  money,  to  all  appearances  in  vain,  the 
organization  for  pursuit  was  ready  to  declare  that  the  game 
it  was  after  was  not  to  be  found  in  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin. 
A  press  dispatch,  dated  at  St.  Paul,  on  July  31,  stated :  "  A 
special  messenger  just  in  from  the  field,  after  a  full  ingesti- 
gation,  reports  that  the  idea  that  the  murderers  are  still  in 
the  woods  is  not  now  seriously  entertained.  It  is  thought 
they  escaped  from  the  river  several  days  since.  The  pur- 
suers were  misled  by  a  tramp  calling  himself  Buffalo  Char- 
ley, a  noted  Indian  scout,  and  he  is  now  under  arrest.  He 
claimed  that  he  was  to  be  followed  by  several  scouts  and  a 

(L77) 


178  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

pack  of  blood-hounds,  and  the  pursuers  depended  on  his 
promises  until  too  late  to  accomplish  anything.  Several 
thousand  dollars  have  thus  been  squandered  on  a  fruitless 
search,  and  the  men  in  the  field  will  abandon  the  chase  in 
disgust." 

So  the  State  felt  at  any  rate,  and  the  following  telegram 
to  The  Times,  chronicles  the  end  of  a  brief  but  by  no  means 
inglorious  campaign: 

MENOMONIE,  Wis.,  July  30. — Quartermaster  General 
Bryant  visited  Maple  Springs  to-day  to  ascertain  the  progress 
of  the  Ludington  Guard's  campaign  in  pursuit  of  the  Will- 
iams brothers,  under  orders  from  Governor  Smith.  General 
Bryant,  satisfying  himself  from  reports  of  what  had  been 
done,  and  a  survey  of  the  situation,  ordered  the  guards  to 
return  to  Menomonie  and  disband  from  actual  service.  The 
Quartermaster  General  told  The  7imes  correspondent  that 
he  considered  further  search  by  a  cavalry  company,  under 
the  circumstances,  as  useless  and  involving  unnecessary 
expense  to  the  State.  He  did  not  believe  the  Williams 
brothers  were  in  the  woods  at  all,  but  that  they  had  improved 
the  opportunity  to  escape. 

On  the  return  of  the  Ludington  Guard,  an  incident 
occurred  along  the  somewhat  scattered  line  of  march  taken 
up  in  single  file  through  the  woods,  which  was  duly 
recorded  at  the  time  by  a  faithful  historian,  and  is  given 
below  for  the  fun  there  is  in  it : 

"MENOMONIE,  Wis.,  July  31.— While  we  were  "home- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  179 

ward  bound"  to-day,  one  of  the  high  privates  in  the  Guard 
met  with  a  thrilling  adventure  on  the  road.  His  name  it 
was  John  Bull,  and  the  scene  of  his  "  run"  was  in  a  lonely 
spot,  where  he  happened  al  the  moment  to  be  riding  along 
alone  with  his  thoughts.  It  was  here,  he  says,  that  he  was 
joined  by  none  other  than  "  one  of  the  Williamses,"  dis- 
guised only  in  having  no  arms  on,  or  at  least  showing  none 
in  sight.  He  reeled  in  his  saddle,  and  offered  Johnnie  Bull 
a  drink  out  of  his  bottle.  He  called  himself  a  detective 
from  Ohio,  seemed  to  have  taken  a  decided  fancy  to  young 
Bull  ("  Sitting"  uneasily  in  his  saddle  the  while),  and  among 
other  conversational  bits,  honored  him  with  the  following : 
'  What  in  h — 1  are  you  fellows  giving  up  the  chase  for  yet? 
Why,  those  Williamses  are  right  here  in  the  woods,  and  I 
could  put  my  hands  on  them  this  minute.'  The  Bull-y  boy 
of  the  Ludington  Guard,  the  more  he  stared  at  the  stranger, 
became  convinced  that  he  beheld  one  of  the  Williams 
brothers.  The  "  detective  from  Ohio"  certainly  looked  like 
several  of  the  many  guaranteed  likenesses  of  the  outlaws, 
and  had  withal  a  mien  ferocious  and  a  manner  careless  and 
free  to  an  alarming  degree.  There  were  no  more  of  the 
Guard  near  by,  and  Johnnie  Bull  began  to  feel  the  flesh 
creep  along  his  bones.  The  stranger  repeated  that  he  came 
from  Ohio,  at  the  same  time  diving  his  hand  into  a  breast 
pocket  to  produce  '  papers  to  show  it.'  This  was  too  much 
for  the  single-handed  guard,  armed  with  only  a  carbine  and 

a  Colt's  six-shooter,  and,  while  in  mortal  fear  lest  the  *  d — d 
12 


I  So  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

desperado'  should  draw  and  shoot  him  in  the  rear,  he  turned 
and  put  spurs  in  his  horse's  flank.  Rejoining  his  compan- 
ions later  on,  after  the  mysterious  detective  had  disappeared 
down  a  cross-road,  the  hero  of  another  «  Bull-Run'— No, 
3— recounted  with  suppressed  excitement  his  daring  adven- 
ture with  "one  of  the  Williams  brothers,"  to  whose  identity 
he  was  willing  to  take  oath." 

Concerning  the  "  inexplicable  individual,"  The  Times  cor- 
respondent insisted  on  having  his  way  towards  establishing 
a  theory  that  would  explain  if  it  could  not  excuse  those 
little  eccentricities  in  the  conduct  of  the  "  half-scout,  half- 
cook  and  two-thirds  '  what-is-it?> "  In  correspondence  with 
his  paper  he  says: 

"  By  mutual  agreement,  Sheriff  Peterson  and  The  Times 
representative  have  been  making  a  close  study  of  Buffalo 
Charlie,  as  a  character,  for  the  past  few  days,  and  on  com- 
paring mental  notes  this  morning  it  was  found,  as  a  curious 
coincidence  of  trains  of  thought,  that  we  had  each  arrived 
at  the  same  partial  solution  of  the  perplexing  problem  as  to 
his  identity.  This  opinion,  in  brief,  may  be  stated  as  follows: 
Buffalo  Charlie's  unblushing  disregard  for  the  truth,  taken 
in  connection  with  the  terrible  risk  he  coolly  ran  in  telling 
such  a  lie  as  that  about  the  bloodhounds,  at  the  time  and  in 
the  place  he  did,  establishes,  first  of  all,  an  evidence  of  mono- 
mania on  a  subject  to  which  his  chief  time  and  thought  have 
been  wholly  occupied  with,  to  the  exclusion  of  everything 
else.  His  gun-shot  and  tomahawk  wounds  about  the  head 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  181 

and  bullet-holes  in  different  parts  of  his  stringy  anatomy, 
together  with  the  killing,  in  his  sight,  of  his  parents,  brothers, 
and  sisters,  are  experiences  calculated  certainly  to  prey  on 
his  peace  of  mind,  as  well  as  to  effect  his  mental  capacities 
— they  tending  to  confirm  the  above  impression,  and  to  help 
explain  the  source  from  which  may  be  said  to  flow  his  pro- 
voking prevarication.  But  Buffalo  Charlie  is  no  fool.  His 
familiarity  with  woodcraft  has  been  proved  by  his  move- 
ments in  the  brush  and  timber.  His  knowledge  of  signs  and 
sounds  is  great  and  thorough  beyond  dispute. 

He  would  stoop  down  and  show  the  track  of  a  man's  foot 
where  the  faintest  traces  of  it  were  invisible  to  the  eyes  of  his 
companions,  until  they  followed  his  words  as  he  revealed  to 
them  the  art  of  the  practiced  Indian  scout.  Charlie's  know- 
ledge of  the  Yellowstone  country,  of  persons  and  places  in 
Dakota  and  Montana,  and  of  dates  and  Indian  campaigns, 
further  strengthen  the  belief  that  he  has  been,  for  a  greater 
or  less  period,  what  he  represents  himself  to  be — an  Indian 
scout  on  the  plains.  As  to  the  bloodhounds,  they  may  or 
may  not  have  been  his  own,  or  belonged  to  the  government; 
they  may  have  existed,  indeed,  only  in  a  diseased  mind's-eye. 
It  is  easy  enough,  further,  to  understand  how  he  could  have 
fallen  into  hard  lines  and  have  been  working  his  way  as  a 
cook,  with  whose  duties  he  was  more  familiar  man  with 
those  of  a  skilled  artisan,  when  news  of  the  $1,700  offered 
as  the  price  of  work  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  perform  at- 
traced  him  thither.  To  sum  up,  Buffalo  Charlie  is  a  person 


1 82  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

who,  while  from  a  partial  and  peculiar  derangement  of  cer- 
tain mental  faculties,  is  not  to  be  entirely  relied  on,  can  be 
made  useful,  under  the  eye  of  one  who  understands  and  can 
control  him,  in  tracking  the  Williams  brothers  to  their  haunts, 
whether  in  the  big  woods  of  Wisconsin  or  elsewhere.  Let 
him  be  kept  in  check  as  a  hound  would  be  until  his  keen 
scent  can  be  made  available,  and  then  give  his  natural  wit  a 
chance  to  display  itself." 

The  pursuit  was  not  immediately  abandoned  upon  the  re- 
call of  the  Ludington  Guard,  although  that  step  by  the 
State  naturally  and  speedily  led  to  this  result.  There  were 
still  parties  in  the  field  who  were  loth  to  leave,  as  is  shown 
by  the  following  article  of  correspondence  taken  from  The 
Times: 

MKNOMONIE,  Wis.,  Aug.  2. — The  pursuit  of  the  Wil- 
liams brothers  has  not  been  abandoned.  It  can  not  be  ex- 
pected, of  course,  that  men  who  are  poor  and  compelled  to 
work  hard  for  a  living  can  subscribe  their  services  for  any 
protracted  length  of  time,  free,  while  their  little  crops  which 
should  have  been  harvested  by  now,  are  waiting  to  be 
gathered;  and  unless  some  assurance  is  given  Doolittle's 
men  that  they  shall  be  paid  for  their  time,  it  is  likely  enough 
that  a  considerable  number  of  them  will  leave  the  field  this 
week.  Doolittle,  Kelley,  the  Coleman  brothers,  and  other 
leaders,  however,  state  their  determination  to  remain  in  the 
woods  until  the  outlaws  are  caught  or  positive  proof  is  ob- 
tained of  their  escape  from  this  part  of  the  country. 


Life  of  Williams  B  tut  hers.  183 

Sheriff  Peterson,  of  Pepin  county,  will  either  take  com- 
mand of  a  Pepin  county  posse  or  join  Doolittle  with  a  few 
men,  and  may  be  depended  on  to  stay  at  his  post  of  duty  as 
long  as  that  duty  calls  him.  He  has  been  in  the  field  ever 
since  the  chase  began,  and  has  rendered  assistance  and  co- 
operation whenever  invited,  and  often  without,  as  I  think, 
the  thanks  of  any  one. 

The  scheme  the  most  practicable  at  present  is  for  the 
pursuing  party  to  inaugurate  a  still  hunt  through  those 
parts  of  the  big  woods  where  the  bandits  are  the  most  likely 
to  be  if  in  Wisconsin's  wilds  at  all. 

Hunting  the  Williams  brothers  has  been  an  expensive 
job,  and  a  far  more  difficult  one,  by  the  way,  than  the  gen- 
eral chase  after  the  Youngers  in  Minnesota.  The  latter 
were  in  a  strange  country,  without  friends,  and  had  become 
demoralized.  The  Williamses  are  perfectly  at  home  in  the 
vast  woody  deeps  where  trails  become  lost  before  they  are 
found,  and  they  are  nearer  more  friends  than  can  possibly 
be  ascertained  by  the  authorities.  If  the  movements  of  every 
suspected  party  were  to  be  shadowed,  it  would  require  a 
detective  force  larger  than  the  entire  number  of  men  in  the 
pursuing  parties  at  any  time  during  the  past  three  weeks. 
The  pursuit  of  Sam  Bass,  the  Texan  train-robber,  through 
the  river  bottoms  and  thickets  of  Denton  county  was  re- 
lieved and  enlivened  occasionly  by  an  exciting  dash  across 
a  stretch  of  open  prairie,  pursuers  and  pursued  mounted  on 
fleet  horses.  There  has  been  no  such  sport  here,  where  so 


184  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

far  as  practical  results  go  the  days  pass  monotonously  into 
weeks  with  nothing  to  show  for  the  hard,  fatiguing  work 
of  brave  and  determined,  but,  in  a  measure,  powerless 
men. 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  fugitives  are 
still  in  the  state,  until  conclusive  evidence  is  afforded  of  their 
voluntary  desertion  of  the  forest  fastnesses  with  which  their 
familiarity  enables  them  to  maintain  right  along  a  positive 
advantage  over  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  pursuers.  They 
are  safer  here  than  anywhere  else,  and  it  is  a  fair  presump- 
tion that  they  know  such  to  be  the  fact.  Their  capture, 
their  death,  may  be  compassed  by  stratagem,  or  occur 
through  a  lucky  accident,  and  a  quiet  pursuit  by  the  right 
body  of  men,  small  in  numbers  though  it  be,  holds  out  now 
the  one  remaining  hope  of  Wisconsin's  ridding  herself 
within  her  own  domain  and  at  her  own  expense  of  her  now 
widely  celebrated  brace  of  bandits. 

Rumors,  catching  at  the  growing  belief,  now  became 
prevalent  of  the  Williams  brothers  having  been  seen  in 
other  parts  of  the  state.  A  telegram  was  sent  to  The  Chi- 
cago Times  by  a  local  correspondent  at  Palmyra,  Wis.,  on 
August  ist,  stating  that  the  outlaws  had  entered  a  hotel  in 
that  village  and  taken  breakfast,  after  which  they  had  left 
without  paying  their  bill.  Another  dispatch  was  sent  the 
next  day,  as  follows: 

"  PALMYRA,  Wis.,  Aug  2. — Sheriff  Messerschmidt  has 
consulted  with  Gov.  Smith  regarding  the  capture  of  the 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  185 

Williams  brothers,  who  have  been  identified  from  their  pic- 
tures in  his  possession  by  several  parties  who  saw  them  in 
this  village  and  vicinity  Saturday,  Sunday,  and  Monday  as 
being  the  original  Williams  brothers.  When  last  seen  they 
were  in  the  woods  between  here  and  Eagle.  Gov.  Smith 
ordered  Sheriff  Messerschmidt  to  arrange  as  speedily  as 
possible  for  following  and  watching  them,  but  in  no  case  to 
attempt  their  arrest,  but  telegraph  him  at  Madison,  and  he 
would  send  a  special  with  troops  to  the  nearest  railway 
point.  The  matter  will  be  arranged  promptly  and  with  as 
much  skill  and  safety  to  the  pursuit  as  possible.  It  is 
thought  the  outlaws  will  not  again  escape.  Sheriff  Messer- 
schmidt's  official  description  of  them  exactly  tallies  with 
that  of  the  men  who  were  here — who  are  supposed  to  have 
struck  the  Western  Union  road  at  Eagle,  south,  or  intended 
to  give  that  impression  from  inquiries  made  in  several 
places  Sunday  morning  and  Saturday  afternoon,  when  a 
man  came  upon  them  unexpectedly  in  the  woods  on  the 
Troy  road.  Each  time  their  inquiries  were  regarding  the 
distance  to  Eagle  Station,  five  miles  from  here,  where  con- 
nection is  made  with  a  branch  of  the  Western  Union  road. 
This  clue  and  the  western  route  to  the  river  system  of  the 
state,  south  and  west,  will  be  closely  followed  by  officers 
now  in  pursuit,  who  express  themselves  confident  of  being 
on  the  right  track.  The  elder  of  the  two  men  here  was 
heavily  built,  dark  hair  and  eyes,  prominent  nose,  wounded 
face,  desperate  looking;  the  younger,  more  boyish,  light 


l86  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

hair  and  eyes,  sun-burned  face,  insignificant  and  common 
looking,  would  have  attracted  no  attention  but  for  carrying 
his  left  arm  and  hand  in  a  bright  red  cotton  sling.  Their 
resemblance  to  the  Williams  brothers  was  freely  commented 
upon  before  and  after  their  departure,  but  there  was  no 
suspicion  of  the  truth  till  the  following  day's  papers  brought 
the  news  of  their  escape  from  the  Eau  Galle  woods  several 
days  ago.  As  matters  now  stand,  if  they  are  the  outlaws, 
they  have  twenty-four  hours'  start  of  their  pursuers,  are 
wounded,  worn,  not  sure  of  their  way,  and  apparently 
without  money  or  friends  in  this  section.  Their  capture  is 
considered  sure." 

Nothing  came  of  this  so-called  "  pursuit."  The  pursuing 
party  took  excellent  care  to  remain  twenty-four  hours  be- 
hind the  men  dubbed  as  the  "  original  Williams  brothers," 
who,  if  overtaken,  would  in  all  likelihood  have  proven  to 
be  a  pair  of  common  tramps. 

The  real  pursuit,  meanwhile,  had  come  to  be  abandonedt 
in  deference  to  public  opinion,  in  both  Dunn  and  Pepin 
counties,  which,  right  or  wrong,  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  murderers  had  escaped  from  the  big  woods,  and 
that  it  was  unwise  and  improvident  to  continue  the  chase 
longer. 

Thus  the  Williams  brothers  escaped  an  immediate  cap- 
ture and  the  summary  punishment  which  came  as  near — 
and  only  as  near — the  former  to  being  effected,  and  the 
latter,  its  natural  consequence,  to  being  meted  out  to  them, 
as  we  have  recounted. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  LAST  TRAGIC  CHAPTER  IN  ED.  MAXWELL'S  WILD 
CAREER. 

THE     SKILLFUL    ARREST— ED.    TALKS    FREELY    OF    HIS 

WILD  LIFE— THE  SCENE  IN  THE  COURT  HOUSE — 

SUDDEN  CHANGE  IN  THE  PERFORMANCE 

—  THE     CONFESSION  —  JUDGE 

LYNCH— DANGLING  IN 

THE  SNOW  STORM. 

The  wild  freedom  of  these  twice  outlawed  brothers  was 
destined  to  come  to  an  end,  at  least  in  the  case  of  the  elder 
of  the  two,  and  that  end  as  tragic  as  the  life  had  been  law- 
less. The  boy  who  began  his  career  as  a  sneak  thief  at 
Washburn,  Illinois,  in  1868 — after  thirteen  years  of  crime — 
died  a  death  of  shame  at  the  hands  of  Judge  Lynch,  at 
Durand,  Wisconsin,  on  the  igth  of  November,  1881.  The 
fruitless  pursuit  of  the  murderers  of  the  Coleman  brothers 
had  been  for  some  time  abandoned  ;  a  conviction  seemed  to 
be  growing  that  these  desperate  outlaws  could  not  be 
arrested. 

On  the  5th  of  November,  however,  Sheriff  Joseph  Kil- 
lian,  of  Hall  county,  Nebraska,  received  some  startling  inti- 
mations. Constable  Chris.  Stahl,  of  Merrick  county,  tele- 
graphed that  there  were  two  suspicious  characters  at  the 
house  of  a  neighboring  farmer,  named  William  Niedfeldt, 
living  near  Grand  Island.  It  was  believed  that  these  men 

(187) 


1 88  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

were  the  outlawed  Williams  brothers.  In  the  darkness  of 
the  early  morning  of  Saturday,  November  the  6th,  Sheriff 
Killian,  Stael  and  Ludwig  Shultz,  and  August  Hitsch,  well 
armed  with  shot-guns  and  revolvers,  started  for  Niedfeldt's 
house,  and,  arriving  there  about  5  o'clock,  A.  M.,  assumed 
the  role  of  hunters,  and  asked  that  breakfast  might  be  pre- 
pared. They  do  not  appear  to  have  excited  the  least  suspi- 
cion, for,  while  breakfast  was  being  prepared,  they  were 
shown  into  the  room  occupied  by  the  suspicious  characters, 
whose  Winchester  rifles  were  near  at  hand,  and  under 
whose  pillows  lay  a  couple  of  revolvers.  The  two  occu- 
pants of  the  room  entered  freely  into  conversation,  and  rep- 
resented themselves  as  goose-hunters  from  Hastings,  Mo.; 
but  when  they  were  unable  to  answer  certain  questions  con- 
cerning the  town  of  Hastings,  and  some  of  its  inhabitants, 
the  early  morning  visitors  began  to  feel  pretty  sure  of  their 
men.  Everything  now  depended  on  coolness  and  tact. 
Lon  Williams,  who  was  known  to  have  lost  one  of  the  toes 
on  his  left  foot,  gave  himself  away  by  putting  his  stockings 
on  under  the  bed-clothes.  After  dressing,  Ed  posted  him- 
relf  near  the  corner  of  the  room,  with  his  right  hand  on 
his  Winchester,  while  Lon  left  his  hat  and  coat  and  leis- 
urely walked  out  of  the  kitchen  door  and  towards  the  barn. 
Changing  his  plans,  Killian  cooly  walked  up  to  Ed.  and 
said:  "I  want  you."  As  Ed.  moved  to  bring  up  his  gun, 
Killian  grabbed  and  floored  him,  and  took  the  gun  away, 
Nitsch  covering  him  with  a  shot-gun.  On  being  thus  se- 
cured, he  saw  that  he  was  fairly  caught,  and  that  any  resist- 
ance would  be  as  foolish  as  useless.  The  brotherly  instinct  in 
Ed,  suggested  to  him  to  give  his  brother  Alonzo  a  chance, 
which  he  did  by  a  series  of  wild  yells,  the  meaning  of  which 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  189 

Lon  was  not  slow  to  apprehend.  He  ran  to  the  corner  of 
the  house,  but  was  confronted  by  Killian,  who  was  there, 
and  covered  him  with  a  revolver,  and  ordered  him  to  halt. 
Lon  replied  with  a  shot,  but  Killian  dodged,  got  into  the 
kitchen  and  closed  the  door,  and  put  his  foot  against  it. 
Lon  came  up,  expecting  it  to  fly  wide  open.  It  only  opened 
a  few  inches,  and  Lon  found  himself  looking  into  the  muzzle 
of  Nitsch's  gun.  He  then  jumped  around  a  corner  of  the 
house  and  went  to  another  window,  but  Nitsch  was  ready 
for  him  and  aimed  at  his  head.  Both  cartridges,  however, 
failed  to  explode.  This  seemed  to  satisfy  Lon  that  further 
attempts  at  rescuing  his  brother  would  be  futile,  gave  it  up 
as  a  bad  job,  and  made  for  the  tall  grass  on  the  bottom  at 
full  speed.  By  7:30  that  night  Ed.  was  landed  at  Grand 
Island  jail. 

From  the  moment  Ed.  was  arrested,  he  seemed  to  count 
himself  a  "  gone  coon,"  and  made  no  effort  and  entertained 
very  little  hope  of  escape.  Indeed,  he  seemed  to  be  sick  of 
life,  as  he  himself  confessed.  The  plea  of  having  shot 
Coleman  in  self  defense  was  the  only  straw  to  which  he 
clung  for  a  moment,  and  it  was  a  very  feeble  straw  at  best. 
The  visit  of  a  reporter  of  the  St.  Paul  Pioneer  gave  him 
an  opportunity  to  talk  of  his  doings,  and  he  availed  himself 
of  the  opportunity  with  a  sort  of  morbid  gratification. 

Speaking  of  the  murdered  Colemans,  he  said :  "  They 
were  the  grittiest  men  and  had  the  most  sand  of  any  men 
who  ever  stood  before  us.  They  were  too  gritty  for  their 
own  good."  When  questioned  as  to  the  wanderings  of  his 
brother  and  himself,  after  the  fatal  doings  of  that  July  Sun- 
day evening,  the  prisoner  said : 

"  Well,  we  went  due  west,  or  maybe  a  little  north  of 
west,  and  got  out  near  Breckenridge.  We  traveled  mostly 
nights,  but  some  days,  and,  as  we  were  skillful  burglars,  we 
did  not  have  much  trouble  in  getting  all  we  wanted  to  eat. 
If  there  was  any  money  handy,  of  course  we  took  that,  but 
we  let  horses  alone.  To  take  them  would  kick  up  too 
much  hullabaloo  to  suit  us  just  then.  We  saw  a  good 
many  people,  but  did  not  have  to  make  any  bluffs.  If  we 


190  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

saw  any  men  coming,  we  threw  our  rifles  into  the  long 
grass,  and  sometimes  crouched  there  ourselves.  We  did 
not  have  a  bad  time  till  Lon  got  the  fever.  He  was  terribly 
sick  with  it  for  two  weeks,  and  I  thought  he  was  going  to 
die  lots  of  times,  but  I  pulled  him  through.  I  tell  you  Lon 
is  all  broke  up,  and  it's  not  his  hard  times,  but  his  grief  for 
his  wife  that's  done  it.  I  don't  want  to  say  it  from  vanity 
because  she  was  my  sister-in-law,  but  she  was  a  mighty 
nice  girl,  and  her  death  nearly  drove  Lon  crazy.  We 
never  went  near  her  grave  that  he  did  not  sit  there  for  an 
hour.  Of  course  I'd  go  witK  him  for  company,  and  once  I 
had  to  keep  guard  with  a  cocked  rifle.  I  heard  Lon  say 
once :  «  What  did  they  take  a  quart  of  blood  from  my  wife 
for?'  And  another  time,  when  I  asked  him  for  his  knife  to 
cut  a  hole  in  a  strap,  I  looked  up  in  time  to  see  his  eyes 
glaring  at  me  like  a  tiger,  and  his  knife  in  his  hand  ready 
to  strike.  I  called  to  him,  and  he  drew  his  hand  across  his 
eyes  and  kind  of  sighed,  and  then  said:  'Is  that  you,  Ed? 
I  thought  it  was  one  of  them  doctors.' " 

"  We  suffered  so  much  with  our  wounds,  and  traveled  so 
much  at  night  and  in  such  out-of-the  way  places,  that  I  got 
kind  of  mixed  up  about  localities,  and  maybe  my  story 
won't  always  seem  like  a  straight-out  one,  but  I  mean  to 
tell  the  truth,  as  near  as  I  can  get  at  it.  I  guess  it  must 
have  been  along  about  the  first  of  last  October  when  we 
struck  south  and  headed  for  Sioux  City.  We  were  good 
walkers,  and  we  traveled  some  day-times — when  we  were 
in  the  open  prairie,  that  is.  Do  you  know,  I'd  a  thousand 
times  rather  be  on  a  prairie  and  be  pursued  than  in  a  wood? 
Lon  and  I  can  shoot  straight  for  a  long  distance,  and  out  in 
the  open  country  we'd  surprise  some  of  our  pursuers,  while 
in  the  woods  they  might  surprise  us,  and  any  hour  could 
always  keep  under  cover  easy  enough.  We  burgled  a  good 
many  houses,  just  to  get  the  newspapers  and  see  what  was 
going  on.  When  we  got  to  Sioux  City  we  skirted  the  town 
and  struck  for  the  railroad  south  of  it.  We  partly  walked 
and  partly  stole  rides  on  night  trains  to  Omaha,  and  that 
was  the  way  we  did  when  we  got  into  Nebraska.  We  walked 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  19 1 

right  through  the  principal  streets  of  Omaha,  and  I  carried 
the  guns  while  Lon  lugged  the  blankets.  No  one  noticed 
t  all.  They  are  used  to  Winchesters,  but  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  country  every  fool  wanted  to  know  about  the 
4  new-fangled '  shooters— where  we  got  them,  how  they 
worked,  and  a  lot  of  such  stuff  as  that.  I  never  suspected 
Killian  at  the  farm-house  where  we  were  captured.  If  I 
had,  I'd  have  shot  Gus,  the  man  he  had  with  him,  and  Lon 
could  have  killed  the  other  fellow.  The  sheriff  wasn't 
around,  so  far  as  I  knew.  I  think  Lon  did  all  he  could  to 
help  me.  He's  a  mighty  good  shot,  but  he  missed  Killian 
because  he  came  on  him  in  a  hurry,  and  it  was  the  dark  of 
the  morning.  The  fellows,  while  they  had  me  down,  beat 
my  hands  terribly  with  the  butt  of  a  revolver.  Look  at 
these  scars;  I  am  surprised  the  wounds  healed  up  so  quick." 
He  distinctly  denied  any  share  in  the  murder  of  the 
Sheriff  of  Calhoun  county,  Illinois;  for  the  apprehension  of 
whose  murderer  or  murderers  Governor  Cullom  had  offered 
a  reward  of  $500.  He  was  very  frank  in  admitting  certain 
escapades  in  Illinois  in  other  days: 

^  ««  Lon  and  I  had  a  good  deal  of  fun  in  Illinois,  near  Smith- 
field,  once.  We  stole  a  couple  of  horses,  and  then  got  some 
harness  and  a  buggy  from  another  barn.  The  man  that  lost 
the  buggy  made  an  awful  row  and  followed  us.  We  were 
lunching  when  he  caught  sight  of  us,  and  he  ran  back. 
Presently  I  saw  a  whole  mob  coming  down  the  road,  some 
armed  with  pitchforks,  some  with  clubs,  and  one  fellow  with 
a  big  rock.  When  they  got  within  thirty  rods  of  us  I  took 
a  revolver  in  each  hand,  leaped  into  the  road  and  gave  a 
yell.  You  should  have  seen  these  fellows  run.  But  Lon 
covered  the  fellow  with  the  rock  with  his  revolver,  and 
made  him  come  clear  up  to  us  and  tell  us  how  far  it  was  to 
a  town  we  wanted  to  reach.  We  did  that  sort  of  thing  so 
often,  with  sheriffs  and  officers  mostly,  that  we  began  to 
think  we  could  not  be  captured,  or  that  we  were  the  only 
brave  men  in  the  world.  No,  it  was  not  reading  dime  nov- 
els or  such  stuff  that  started  us  on  the  road.  It  was  just 


192  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

what  I've  told  yon,  our  luck  in  standing  off  so  many  who 
had  a  right  to  be  brave." 

He  declared  that  he  could  tell  of  many  more  wild  ad- 
ventures  than  the  public  dreamed  of.  How  he  and  Lon 
had  been  shot  at,  and  how  they  had  shot  at  people,  protest- 
ing,  however,  that  he  never  shot  unless  he  was  first 
attacked.  He  said  he  looked  upon  his  life  as  a  profession. 
He  believed  in  religion — believed  in  it  hard — but,  said  he, 
"  Pd  rather  have  my  Winchester." 

For  a  while  he  paced  up  and  down  his  cell.  Suddenly 
he  stopped  and  said  with  a  wild  sort  of  bravado: — 

"  You  don't  think  I'm  walking  about  here  because  I'm 
nervous,, do  you  ?  I  never  felt  less  like  it  in  my  life.  I  don't 
feel  a  bit  afraid,  and,  really,  this  is  honest.  It  is  a  sort  of  re- 
lief to  be  captured,  and  free  from  that  everlasting  hunted 
feeling;  that,  glancing  at  every  fellow  with  one  eye, 
while  you  look  at  your  pistol  wjth  the  other.  I  was  getting 
mighty  tired  of  that  sort  of  thing,  though,  of  course,  I 
fought  hard  against  being  taken.  Now  I  know  I'm  in  a 
mighty  ticklish  place.  I  know  that  as  well,  or  better,  than 
you  do,  but  I  don't  believe  they  can  rightfully  convict  me, 
for  I  shot  in  self-defense.  I  would  get  a  lawyer,  but  I  have 
a  deathly  fear  of  a  snide  attorney.  I'll  wait  till  I  find  who's 
really  a  good  one." 

At  last  the  fatal  morning  dawned.  His  preliminary  ex- 
amination was  to  have  taken  place  at  9 130  A.  M.,  but  was 
postponed  to  2  p.  M.  Meantime,  people  came  trooping  into 
Durand  from  all  quarters.  There  was  a  strange  look  in 
men's  faces  that  betokened  stranger  purposes;  but  the  con- 
federates, who  had  determined  to  avenge  the  bloody  mur- 
der of  the  Colemans,  kept  their  council  well.  By  noon  the 
crowds  were  gathering  round  the  court  house,  and  Ed. 
Maxwell,  in  the  most  cold-blooded  manner,  suggested  that, 
as  there  would  be  a  big  crowd  at  the  examination,  they 
might  sell  tickets  at  the  door,  and  he  hoped  that  whoever 
sold  them  would  "  divvy  on  the  square." 

At  the  appoinled  time,  the  prisoner  took  his  place  in  the 
court  house.  An  angry  crowd  had  surged  into  the  dilapi- 


Life  of  Williams  Brothers.  193 

dated  court  of  justice.  Ed.  looked  around  him  with  a  sneer 
on  his  wretched  face.  When  the  formal  question  was  put, 
«  Guilty,  or  not  guilty,"  he  replied :  "  Not  guilty!  I  waive 
examination,  and  wish  to  make  a  statement."  He  was  told 
to  go  on ;  and  then,  in  a  calm,  conversational  tone  of  voice, 
he  made  the  following  confession: — 

"  We  killed  the  Coleman  boys  in  self-defense,  but  did  not 
know  them  from  Adam.  We  were  sitting  in  the  grove  up 
town  when  we  saw  them  pass  us.  They  had  guns  with 
them,  and  looked  around  often,  as  if  searching  for  some- 
thing. We  knew  there  was  no  game  about  there,  and  that 
they  wouldn't  go  hunting  Sunday  if  there  was;  so  we  knew 
they  were  alter  us,  and  kept  a  sharp  look-out.  When  they 
got  past  us  they  started  to  run.  Then  we  got  over  the 
fence  and  followed  them  up  the  road,  thinking  we  were 
being  surrounded  and  caught  in  a  trap.  We  had  not  gone 
far  before  we  met  them,  and  the  one  nearest  the  fence 
(Nichol  Coleman)  fired  first,  his  shot  hitting  Lon  in  the  face 
and  arm.  Charley  fired  at  me,  and  me  at  him,  a  second 
later.  His  shot  struck  my  arm,  and  he  fell  to  my  bullet, 
but  got  on  his  knee  and  fired  again.  Lon  had  shot  the 
other  one  before  that,  and  both  men  were  down.  Then  we 
turned  and  run." 

As  the  confession  went  on,  the  crowd  pressed  closer  and 
closer  to  the  murderer,  and  before  the  echo  of  the  last  sen- 
tence died  away,  a  dozen  men  sprang  on  him.  The  efforts 
of  the  attendant  police  to  protect  him  were  all  in  vain. 
Women  shrieked  and  men  yelled.  A  perfect  pandemonium 
ensued.  A  rope  appeared  as  if  by  magic,  the  noose  was 
thrown  over  his  head  from  behind,  and  amid  cries  of  "  Hang 
him!"  "Choke  him!"  "Burn  him!"  he  was  dragged  out 
of  the  court  house  only  to  be  greeted  by  the  execrations 
and  curses,  loud  and  deep,  of  a  great  mob  of  five  hundred 
men,  women  and  children.  He  was  heard  to  groan  out,  "  If 
I  had  but  my  Winchester,  and  a  second's  freedom!"  But 
it  was  too  late!  He  was  dragged  more  dead  than  alive  to 
a  gnarled  old  tree  in  the  court  yard,  the  rope  was  thrown 
over  a  limb  of  the  tree,  and  the  half-strangled  outlaw  was 


194  Life  of  Williams  Brothers. 

drawn  up  between  earth  and  heaven  to  choke.  A  spasm, 
and  all  was  over!  It  was  said  that  the  widow  and  daughter 
of  the  man  he  had  murdered  gazed  on  the  awful  scene. 
The  bleak  November  day  closed  in  storm,  sleet  and  snow 
sweeping  through  the  court  yard  of  Durand,  half  hid 
the  dangling  form — the  victim  of  Judge  Lynch. 

So  ended  in  darkness,  tragedy  and  storm,  the  wild  career 
of  Edward  Maxwell. 


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